Equipping & Protecting Our Protectors

Building Protection Against Chemical Warfare

Pine Bluff Arsenal is designated by the Department of Defense as a Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for Chemical and Biological Defense Equipment. They provide America’s Joint Warfighter with specialized ammunitions, smoke, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear defense capabilities through expert manufacturing, storage, and logistics. They also design, manufacture, and refurbish smoke, riot control, and incendiary munitions. Pine Bluff Arsenal is also the only location in the Northern Hemisphere where white phosphorus munitions are filled.

Project Details

In support of the arsenal’s research and quality assurance testing on chemical defense equipment such as gas masks, filters, and protective clothing, we constructed a multi-level 39,987 SF Quality Evaluation Facility and a 3,803 SF large filter test facility. The facility contains toxic and non-toxic laboratories supported by special systems including an airlock door control system, filtered positive ventilation, special coatings in the toxic areas, and a total of 70 fume hoods that take exhaust into specialized ductwork to custom designed and fabricated toxic air filters. The laboratories have piping systems for industrial hot and cold water, de-ionized water, compressed air, zero air, helium, hydrogen, and nitrogen gases. Chemical waste is taken to a segregated toxic waste collection system in an underground steel tank farm.