One of the unique problems that we face in this area is the clean up of explosives and propellants. An example of our work in this area concerns a research team at the University of Idaho which recently isolated an anaerobic strain of bacteria that can utilize the explosive trinitrotoluene, commonly known as TNT, as a sole source of food for growth. In the process, TNT is degraded to nontoxic intermediates which are, in turn, converted by natural soil microbes into the fundamental products of carbon dioxide and water. Other highly energetic propellant compounds used by the military, RDX and HMX, are also degraded by this newly identified bacterial strain. This bacterium should facilitate the development of environmentally safe and inexpensive processes for cleaning up contaminated soils on, or around, military bases and for disposing of outdated stocks of explosives.
Interim results indicate that the evaluation is progressing toward a successful completion.
The Army successfully completed the demonstration of composting for treating explosive-contaminated soil at Umatilla Army Depot. The results of this demonstration led to the selection of composting for the actual cleanup of this EPA National Priorities List site. In broader areas of cleanup research, ARPA is conducting a multidisciplinary, integrated research program at the California Institute of Technology to study novel approaches to the analysis, biodegradation, and chemical degradation of hazardous chemicals in environmental systems. The Cal Tech research team has designed, constructed, and tested two new advanced instruments for the quantitative determination of both small and large molecules. The application and refinement of these techniques are being explored for analyses of hazardous substances and for quantitative determinations of chemicals present in subsurface water.