University Daily Kansan, August 20, 1981
Page 9
Army ammo plant lies empty, waiting
By CHRIS TODD Staff Reporter
At first glance, the U.S. Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant looks something like a deserted movie set.
The vastness of the complex is immediately apparent—it encompasses 15 square miles—but its sparse, gray buildings look empty, and except for the chirping of a few birds and the droning of a distant lawnmower, there is silence. The dominant impression is that something should be going on, but isn't.
IN JUNE OF 1945, just three years after its construction, the plant employed 12,067 workers and produced more than 202 million pounds of ammunition powder.
Now the plant, located about 15 miles east of Lawrence in DSeoto, is nonoperational. It remains in a perpetual state of readiness, waiting for the moment when it must again supply tons of ammunition chemicals for the powerful weapons in the U.S. defense arsenal.
"Basically, what we are is a $1.1 billion insurance policy." Tom Stutz, commander's representative at the plant, said. "We hope we never have to go into operation, but if we do, it won't take long to get ready."
Although the plant is not producing what it was designed to produce, which is chemical propellant for small rockets and cannons, it takes a considerable number of jobs that employees just to maintain the plant's facilities and grounds, according to Stucco.
"Right now, we employ around 635 permanent employees," Stutz said. "There are a number of things that need to be done, including maintaining some 100 miles' worth of roads, and of course, the grounds have to be kept up." We are also constantly maintaining and modernizing our equipment. That's probably the most important function of the plant right now."
IN THE PAST, according to Stutz, the plant hired 50 or 60 students every summer to do simple maintenance or clerical work. Because of budget restrictions, however, the plant was not able to do that this year, he said.
"Most of the students we hired did a lot of painting and lawn mowing, but they were paid pretty well, around six
of seven dollars an hour, "he said." A few students were hired to straighten up medical records, and others took office or worked on the railroad crew.
Touring the grounds of the plant by car shows how large and costly a chemical ammunition plant can be. It takes at least an hour to complete the tour.
The most distinguishing characteristic of the physical plant is the miles of pipelines that run parallel to the paved, narrow main road.
At certain points, several pipeline systems converge and pass each other, creating a jumbled look, like freeway junctures in Los Angeles or Chicago.
WENDY NUGENT/Kansan Staff
Occasionally the pipelines change direction and pass in and out of small buildings, which are often surrounded by wooden barricades designed to direct and limit the effects of a nitroglycerin explosion.
"When the plant is producing, there are some hazardous operations that take place," Stutz said. "During certain par's of the production process, nitrogerinein and other chemicals are released." The explosion is always present, although there have been very few in the plant's history."
There are more than 4,000 buildings on the plant grounds, Stutz said. The plant houses its own hospital, living quarters and laundry facilities.
"The complex is actually like a small city," Stutz said. "Our water capacity, for instance, is near 50 million gallons, which is as big or bigger than our local city." The only thing a city might have that we don't have is a shopping district."
IF A FULL-SCALE war broke in the next year, Stutz said the plant would take almost a year to become fully operational.
Besides providing propellant for rockets and cannons in World War II, the plant was operational during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
At the height of the Korean War, the plant employed about 5,300 workers. In 1967, the plant reached its peak Viet- embour employment level of about 4,000 workers.
"It would be a step-by-step process," Stutz said. "Within three to four months, we would be producing at some percentage of our capacity, but it would probably be a full year before we reached our peak capacity. I just hope that possibility doesn't come up in the near future."
U. S. Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant
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