Load Line 12 / Ammonium Nitrate Line

 Upload a photo

Load Line #12 encompasses approximately 77.58 acres. Multiple buildings were located here during its operational years which included a neutral liquor building, seven evaporation/crystallization units, Water Works No. 2, Power House No. 3, a bagging and shipping building, a compressor building, an administration building, a change house, a laboratory, and a clock house.

Originally known as the Ammonium Nitrate Plant, Load Line 12 produced granular ammonium nitrate through an evaporation and crystallization procedure using neutral liquor. The finished product was then transferred to the melt-pour lines for blending with 2,4,6-TNT to produce Amatol. After the termination of ammonium nitrate production in 1943, Buildings 900, 904, and 905 were renovated for demilitarization of munitions using a hot-water washout process. In order to improve the quality of TNT recovered, washout operations were converted to a steam melt-out process in the late 1950s.

The demilitarization process involved removing the fuse and booster assemblies from bomb casings and placing the projectiles into a double-jacketed steam canister. The explosives were liquefied and poured into a tray where it was allowed to solidify. Once a solid, the explosives were knocked out of the tray, packed, and shipped from the site.

From a 1968 report:

Produced ammonium nitrate from 1941 through 1943 and then was used to produce ammonium nitrate fertilizer. In 1965, Building FJ905 was converted from a TNT washout facility and used in the demilitarization program. In 1953, FN54 was equipped for brass cartridge case renovation. In 1960 Buildings FA902 and FJ30L were modified to provide bomb melt-out facilities. Powerhouse in this area has a total steam capacity of 908.7 boiler horsepower. Buildings FF19, FE22 and FE53 were outleased to
Hercules-Alclor. Inc. Lease was canceled effective 3 December 1967.