Update on Request for Variance
On Jan. 13, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality approved the Radford Army Ammunition Plant’s request for variance to recycle used acid from other sources and use it in its production process.
In the plant’s efforts to boost both sustainability and efficiency, this variance allows Radford to serve as a secondary source to recycle acid to use in Radford’s production processes. Use of this acid from other sources will minimize the amount of new acid Radford must purchase by supplementing with recycling of offsite acids from external defense affiliates. Acid will only be transported to Radford when production levels allow. To ensure safety, there are significant and strict controls in place for transport and a fully contained process for storage and handling on site. The plant will continue to use extensive controls and safety measures, including stringent permitting and reporting requirements on the process that recycles acid as well as those that use the acid. These requirements ensure the health and safety of the surrounding communities and protect the environment.
Radford already has the ability to recycle and reuse acid produced on site. The variance allows for up to 2.1 million gallons of nitric acid to be reused by the facility. This is another initiative in the plant’s strategy to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Other initiatives include precious metals reclamation which generates 1.5 tons of metal per year; increasing the total amount of material recycled by 27% to include recovered acids, recovered alcohol, pit cotton recovery, and scrap metal; and increasing the recycling rate overall including a high of 96.7% in 2023 and exhibited steady performance in 2024 with a rate of 95.3% based on November 2024 data.
The Public Notice for the Variance request was published Sept. 26, which began a 60-day public comment period. The public comment period closed on Nov. 25. Issuance of the approved variance was published in the Roanoke Times on Jan. 16. The variance process was completed with the published notice.
More information on the permit can be found here: www.deq.virginia.gov/permits/public-notices/land-protection