OVERVIEW
CMA also stood up Redstone Chemical Activity (CMA RCA)
to support the Army’s investigative, environmental remediation
and storage activities at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville,
Alabama. Due to its historical position as
a center for chemical weapons production, storage,
evaluation and demilitarization, the arsenal has the
potential for a large amount of recovered chemical
warfare materiel (RCWM). CMA RCA’s four primary
areas of responsibility are storage, commodity
management, security, and technical expertise.
Storage
CMA RCA is responsible for the safe and
regulatory-compliant storage of all RCWM,
conventional munitions and explosives, and
miscellaneous wastes generated during
investigative and remediation operations. The
Activity is also tasked with supporting emergency
response and providing courtesy storage of
explosive waste derived from other organizations
at Redstone.
CMA RCA researches and provides packaging
configurations for all hazardous waste, waste
military munitions, and RCWM in compliance with
Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations. CMA
RCA coordinates Special Packaging Instructions
and Interim Hazard Classifications for items
without a prescribed package method. CMA RCA
ensures compliance with the Alabama Department
of Environmental Management Hazardous Waste
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permit,
including conducting and documenting required
storage inspections.
Commodity Management
CMA RCA performs and validates inventory and
accountability of RCWM, all unknown conventional
munitions and explosives recovered during
investigative and remediation activities, as well as
hazardous wastes generated.
Accountability for all RCWM recovered at the
Arsenal is accomplished through the Chemical
Accountability Management Information Network
(CAMIN), which is managed by CMA. CMA RCA
also provides external custodial support for CAMIN
input and maintains a local database to track all
recovered materiel through final disposition.
Technical Expertise
CMA RCA is the focal point for explosives safety
in transportation, storage, packaging and handling
for all operations of recovered materiel, providing
direct support to the U.S. Army Garrison-Redstone
Arsenal (USAG-RSA), CBRNE (Chemical,
Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosive)
Analytical and Remediation Activity–Remediation
Response West, U.S. Army Corps of EngineersHuntsville, and the site contractor.
CMA RCA provides local certification and
recertification of overpack containers used at
Redstone, participates in site-planning efforts
and reviews of storage operations plans and
procedures for compliance with Army and
Department of Defense explosives safety
requirements, and develops and submits explosive
waivers and deviations for approval. CMA RCA
provides external support as needed for Army
chemical training instruction for the Defense
Ammunition Center, Combatant Command
(COCOM), and backup CAMIN support for CMA
headquarters.
CMA RCA additionally provides support for the
Prototype Recovered Ordnance Destruction
System being established at USAG-RSA for
destruction of recovered conventional munitions.
The CMA Recovered Chemical Materiel Directorate
owns, maintains, and deploys the Explosive
Destruction System to destroy RCWM and will
work closely with CMA RCA for any recovered at
Redstone Arsenal.