OMAHA, NE – Due to the Government Shutdown the Public Town Hall meeting for the former F.E. Warren Atlas “D” Missile Site 3, a Formerly Used Defense Site, located approximately eight miles northwest of Carpenter, WY has been cancelled. The meeting will be rescheduled for a future date to be determined. USACE seeks to improve public participation by informing the community about the progress of environmental restoration efforts at the site.
Site 3 was one of four Atlas “D” missile sites operated as part of the 565th Strategic Missile Squadron at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. The site was used for the maintenance, storage, and potential launch of Atlas “D” intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). The Atlas “D” missile was a liquid-fueled, rocket-powered ICBM, equipped with inertial and ground-based radio-guidance systems and a thermonuclear warhead.
During operations at Atlas “D” missile facilities, the ICBMs were regularly fueled as part of readiness exercises. At the completion of a readiness exercise, the RP-1 fuel was pumped back into the RP-1 fuel Underground Storage Tank (UST), and the missile’s RP-1 fuel tanks and lines were flushed with approximately 25 gallons of the chlorinated solvent trichloroethene (TCE). The waste TCE and residual RP-1 fuel were then released into drainage sumps and subsequently discharged onto the ground surface at each launch building’s burnout pit. The waste TCE infiltrated into the ground and migrated to the underlying groundwater within the Ogallala Formation, forming a chlorinated solvent plume that extends east-southeast beyond the site boundary. The plume is approximately 7,800 feet long, 2,000 feet wide, and 180 feet thick. The Corps of Engineers, in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, have been conducting remediation activities at the site since 2004.
If you have any questions, please call the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Public Affairs Office at (402) 995-2417 or Project Manager, Environmental Remediation Branch, Lisa Madore, (402) 995-2723.
Release no. 18-003