Blue Grass Army Depot Blue Grass Army Depot ( BGAD ) is a U . S . Army storage facility for conventional munitions and chemical weapon s . The facility is located in east central Kentucky , southeast of the cities of Lexington and Richmond , Kentucky . The site , composed mainly of open fields and wooded areas , is used for munitions storage , repair of general supplies , and the disposal of munitions . The installation is used for the storage of conventional explosive munitions as well as assembled chemical weapons . The depot primarily is involved in industrial and related activities associated with the storage and maintenance of conventional and chemical munitions . The tenant organization , Blue Grass Chemical Activity , is responsible for the chemical weapons stored at BGAD . BGCA is part of the Army ' s Chemical Materiels Activity , headquartered in Edgewood , Maryland . The demilitarization of the chemical weapons is the responsibility of a third organization , ACWA . BGAD provides munitions , chemical defense equipment , and ammunition support to the joint warfighter . It is the Department of Defense ’ s primary center for surveillance , receipt , storage , issue , testing and minor repair for the Chemical Defense Equipment Program . BGAD maintains and supports CDE stocks for deploying units and homeland defense forces , and is a training site for reserve component and other deploying units . Capabilities . Capabilities include : industrial services support ; ammunition maintenance , renovation , disassembly and demilitarization ; thermal arc coating for Air Force bombs ; water washout facility with flaker belt ; Molten Salt Research and Development Facility ; ultrasonic testing for mortar ammunition ; Chemical Material Surveillance Program ; quality assurance and joint logistics support ; and ammunition life cycle management . The depot also serves as a large training ground for service members . History . BGAD was established in 1941 and began operations in 1942 as an ammunition and general supply storage depot , Blue Grass Ordinance Depot . In 1964 , it merged with the Lexington Signal Depot in Avon , Kentucky , to became the Lexington - Blue Grass Army Depot . The Lexington facility was selected for closure under BRAC ( Base Realignment And Closure ) ; after it closed in September 1999 , the remaining facility received its current designation . Facilities . BGAD is housed on with 1 , 153 buildings , 902 igloos and storage capacity of . In 2010 BGAD started manufactures Mine Resistant Ambush Protected ( MRAP ) vehicles for military service members . BGAD also manufacturing combat lock tools which is a multipurpose key that allows war fighters access to MRAPs other than their own in the case of an emergency . BRAC 2005 . BGAD will be gaining the maintenance workload from Red River Munitions Center , which is closing under Base Realignment and Closure 2005 . Environmental . BGAD is currently working with state and federal regulators on environmental remediation . The installation is in compliance with all state and federal laws and regulations . Chemical weapons destruction . BGAD stores a small stockpile of chemical agents , comprising 523 tons of nerve agents GB ( sarin ) and VX , and mustard gas , or about two percent of the United States chemical weapons stockpile . Beginning in 2003 , destruction of the Blue Grass chemical weapons stockpile , in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Treaty , was contracted out using a technology known as neutralization followed by supercritical water oxidation . This is a different method than the incineration that is used at the larger stockpiles . Groundbreaking for the chemical destruction facility took place on October 28 , 2006 . Final design of the facilities should be complete in 2010 and actual construction in 2018 , after which destruction of the weapons will begin .