The Area Ten Liquid Incinerator (ATLIC) is a large government project designed to safely dispose of the blister agent Lewisite. When in operation, the incinerator is used to destroy World War II vintage chemical warfare. The building was designed and built to have little to no effect on the environment, and to destroy chemicals in accordance with the international Chemical Weapons Convention treaty.

Brahma was responsible for the execution of mechanical and civil work on this nearly $100M project. Our scope of work included process mechanical installation, process equipment installation, electrical power and control installation, and civil. In general the work consisted of the installation of the GA/Lewisite chemical incinerator system, the erection of a nearly 10,000 square foot building, and the modification of both the earth and existing igloos.

The modification on existing igloos included the installation of chemical holding tanks and chemical extracting glove boxes with associated process piping for various chemicals. We erected and performed the civil work for a new building located on the east end of the igloo. We constructed the building to house additional chemical liquid processing equipment, and constructed an alternate new building to house furnace stack gas emissions control equipment. We were responsible for the civil execution in modifying an existing bunker, and constructed and installed a wet scrubber and baghouse to control stack emissions. Lastly, we installed the LIC furnace and all of the associated exhaust gas handling equipment (scrubber, bag-house, ducting, I.D. fan and stacks).

Safety is paramount in BGI’s culture and therefore careful precautions were made to ensure a zero incident environment. During the ATLIC project TOCDF was approved as a VPP SHARP site. Brahma was the primary contractor onsite and largely responsible for this recognition. Each employee was trained and was able to demonstrate by their actions strict compliance in Brahma’s HSE systems and the site-specific safety plan. This included daily participation in individual field level risk assessments, team field level risk assessments, work permits, daily safety meetings, daily review and understanding of the intricate twenty-foot scaffolding, weekly stand downs, and strict compliance with personal protective equipment. In this project, we were working in particularly tight quarters. Each and every crew member demonstrated a great knowledge of where they needed to be and the places they should not be.

Expedited completion was necessary on this project to assist the United States Army in meeting a strict treaty deadline, therefore, we bid the ATLIC project with less than fifty percent of the design phase completed. Working under a tight schedule, our team worked closely with the customer to ensure changes to design, engineering and project scope were communicated clearly and implemented immediately. In addition to a limited timeframe, it was essential construction on this project was well crafted with the utmost amount of precision due to the sensitive nature of disposing chemical agents.

Brahma was successful in these pursuits and the completion of this project allowed for the safe destruction of chemical agents protecting workers, citizens, and the environment simultaneously. We also completed the project within schedule, ensuring our customer’s deadlines were met.

“Winner of American General Contractor’s—Best Government Project of the year”