A new CBRN training facility for the Swedish armed forces was inaugurated at a ceremony in Umeå a few days ago. This is where training can be carried out with live biological, chemical and nuclear materials. Accordingly, the safety precautions are very high.
“The special thing about the facility is that it can be decontaminated after each exercise so that it can then be used with other scenarios and materials,” says Thomas Björklund, project manager for the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration’s (FMV) management systems division.
The CBRN training facility is part of the Total Defense Protection Centre’s training facilities and is used to carry out live exercises with highly toxic chemical warfare agents, industrial chemicals, dead microorganisms and radiological substances. Conscripts and members of special units of the armed forces, civil defense authorities and guests from allied countries can train here individually or together.
The training facility was built in collaboration between the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and FMV. While FMV mainly supplied equipment and monitoring systems, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration took care of the construction of the building. The challenge was that the design and construction of the building was unique in terms of flexibility for the exercises, safety for the trainees and the external environment.
“We had no previous experience of building a facility where you can alternate between exercises with biological, chemical and nuclear substances and decontaminate in between,” says Björklund.
Three air pressure zones
Part of the safety is that the facility is divided into three air pressure zones. The teaching, spectator and changing areas have normal air pressure and can also be used during an exercise without protective equipment. There is reduced air pressure in the airlocks leading into and out of the training and test halls, as well as in the decontamination areas. There is also reduced air pressure in the training and test hall itself.
“When people are moving around in the training area, there is an overpressure outside so that no toxic substances can escape. For safety reasons, certain doors within the training area can only be opened once a number of criteria have been met,” explains the project manager. “However, the doors leading to the outside can be opened at any time so that people can get outside immediately if necessary. During high-risk exercises, medical personnel are also on site in case of an accident.”
Closed system
From the areas with the lowest air pressure, the air is sucked through large carbon filters before being discharged. A completely closed wastewater system ensures that no substances can enter the municipal sewage system. Björklund said: “The plant has a number of very large filters. They enable training with different types of hazardous substances so that employees can learn to recognize and handle both radioactive and chemical substances.”
In the smaller test hall, it is possible to simulate both tropical heat with high humidity and dry desert heat. This variation was made necessary by the fact that temperature and humidity affect chemical substances and therefore the methods and choice of detection and decontamination agents. Various environments can be set up in the large hall and vehicles weighing up to 20 tons can be driven on.
Ready for use
With the inauguration ceremony, the CBRN training facility is now ready for use. The ceremony was attended by numerous representatives from the Swedish Armed Forces, the Military Property Agency, FMV, the region and the municipality. Björklund is certain: “The training here will increase Sweden’s defense capability.”
