Military

Hawthorne Army Depot
Hawthorne Ammunition Depot
Hawthorne Test Range
Hawthorne, Nevada

On December 7, 1941, the United States had only one Naval Ammunition Depot -- Hawthorne, Nevada -- to support the Navy's Pacific Fleet, and was building another at Crane, Indiana to support the Atlantic Fleet. Established in early 1930 after the Lake Denmark, New Jersey explosion which injured hundreds in nearby towns. Employment was at its highest at 5,625 in 1945. Converted to government-owned, contractor-operated (GOCO) on December 1, 1980. In 2005, however, DoD recommended to close Hawthorne AD as part of its BRAC Recommendations (see below for details).

Hawthorne Army Depot is located in the west central part of Nevada close to the California state line. It is approximately two hours southeast of Reno on US Highway 95. The facility's area 147,000 Acres (Leased/Owned) and .6M Sq. Ft. Floor Space. Facilities include 178 Buildings and 2,427 Igloos.

In 1995 Day & Zimmermann/Basil Corporation, Radnor, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $5,487,390 modification to a cost plus award fee contract for the operation and maintenance of a government owned/contractor operated facility. Work will be performed at Hawthorne Army Depot, Hawthorne, Nevada. The contracting activity is the US Army Armaments, Munitions and Chemical Command, Rock Island, Illinois. In August 1999 Day & Zimmermann Hawthorne Corp., Philadelphia, Pa., was awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract with a base year total of $171,324,309 and a cumulative total of $324,091,891 (one five-year base period and one five-year option period). The contractor will manage the Hawthorne Army Depot, perform supply depot operations, and demilitarization and renovation of conventional ammunition. Work will be performed at Hawthorne Army Depot, Nev., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2009. An appropriation number and dollar value will be issued with each delivery order. There were four bids solicited on Feb. 11, 1999, and three bids were received. The US Army Armament, Munitions & Chemical Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity.

The Industrial Operations Command (IOC) has requirements for services for the Demilitarization and Renovation of Conventional Ammunition, Ammunition Supply Depot Operations, MILVAN Repair and Tenant Support. The work is currently performed at the Hawthorne Army Depot, Hawthorne, Nevada. The Western Area Demilitarization Facility located at Hawthorne is the premiere resource recovery and recycling center of conventional ammunition. Hawthorne covers approximately 226 square miles, providing ample room for expansion, and is divided into three ammunition storage and production areas, plus an industrial area housing command headquarters, facilities engineering shops, etc. HWAD claims to be the "Worlds Largest Depot" and is the largest industrial activity in the state of Nevada.

In addition to on-site facilities at the Fallbrook Naval Weapons Station, the Marine Corps Programs Department operates a 49,000-acre live fire ordnance test facility at Hawthorne, Nevada. The Hawthorne range provides the capability for a full range of state-of-the-art ballistic and functional testing for all weapon systems from grenades up through the 155mm Howitzer. Capabilities include full instrument ranges with state-of-the-art radar tracking and video/audio recording equipment.

Hawthorne has an ammunition surveillance program and is a Tier II cadre site that maintains additional war reserve stocks. Tier II facilities store War Reserve ammunition to be used after the first 30 days. They are partially staffed in peacetime, but would increase staffing when needed. The Army has adopted a "tiered" ammunition depot concept to reduce infrastructure, eliminate static non-required ammunition stocks, decrease manpower requirements, increase efficiencies, and permit the Army to manage a smaller stockpile. The tiered depot concept reduces the number of active storage sites and makes efficiencies possible. A "tier 1" installation will support a normal/full-up activity level with a stockage configuration of primarily required stocks and minimal non-required stocks requiring demilitarization. Normal activity includes daily receipts/issues of training stocks, storage of war reserve stocks required in contingency operations and additional war reserve stocks to augment lower level tier installation power projection capabilities. Installations at this activity level receive requisite levels of storage support, surveillance, inventory, maintenance and demilitarization.

For many years, the US Army and other branches of the armed services engaged in a wide variety of activities involving the manufacture, handling, storage, testing, and disposal of explosive materials and chemical warfare agents. These activities resulted in the contamination of process-related equipment, piping, sewers, and enclosing structures with hazardous materials at various Department of Defense (DoD) installations. As a result, the DoD has numerous facilities and equipment at active installations, Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS), and Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) installations which are contaminated with explosive residues and chemical warfare agents through historical manufacturing, transfer, storage, use and demilitarization of these materials. As part of its long-term environmental program, the DoD is required to decontaminate and remove explosive contamination from equipment and buildings at numerous DOD installations. An environmentally-safe, non-destructive alternative is to decontaminate facilities using the Hot Gas Decontamination (HGD) technology developed by the US Army Environmental Center (USAEC), formerly known as the US Army Toxic and Hazardous Materials Agency (USATHAMA). The HGD technology uses controlled heat to volatilize and thermally decompose the explosive contamination. The process was proven technically effective decontaminating explosive-contaminated equipment and facilities during several field demonstrations conducted by the USAEC. Successful full-scale field demonstrations were performed at Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant (Nebraska), Hawthorne Army Depot (Nevada), and the Alabama Army Ammunition Plant.

BRAC 2005

In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to close Hawthorne Army Depot, NV. It would relocate Storage and Demilitarization functions to Tooele Army Depot, UT. Capacity and capability for Storage and Demilitarization existed at numerous munitions sites. To reduce redundancy and remove excess from the Industrial Base, the closure would allow DoD to create centers of excellence and establish deployment networks that support readiness. Hawthorne Army Depot had infrastructure problems that severely limited the ability to offload.

The total estimated one-time cost to the Department of Defense to implement this recommendation would be $180.3M. The net of all costs and savings to the Department during the implementation period would be a savings of $59.2M. Annual recurring savings to the Department after implementation would be $73.4M with a payback beginning immediately. The net present value of the costs and savings to the Department over 20 years would be a savings of $777.7M. Assuming no economic recovery, this recommendation could result in a maximum potential reduction of 326 jobs (199 direct jobs and 127 indirect jobs) over the period 2006-2011 in the Reno-Sparks, NV Metropolitan Statistical Area (less than 0.1 percent). Environmentally, surveys and consultation with the State Historic Preservation Officer would be required at Hawthorne Army Depot. Restoration monitoring/sweeps, access controls and/or deed restrictions might be required at Hawthorne to prevent disturbance and health/safety risks, and/or long-term release of toxins to environmental media. Restoration and/or monitoring of contaminated media might be required after closure. Hawthorne also had domestic and industrial wastewater treatment plants that might require closure. This recommendation would require spending approximately $1.5M for environmental compliance activities. Hawthorne also reported approximately $383.2M in environmental restoration costs. Because the Department of Defense has a legal obligation to perform environmental restoration regardless of whether an installation is closed, realigned, or remains open, this cost was not added to the above figures.