Tue, Mar. 9, 2004

Army: More water needed to reduce arsenal fires
Thursday, Feb 23, 2006

By Alison Vekshin
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Spraying more water during the chemical weapons disposal process at the Pine Bluff Arsenal would reduce the likelihood of fires, according to an Army report released Wednesday.

The arsenal's incineration plant has had seven M55 rocket fires since it began operating last March as part of an effort to destroy aging chemical weapons by a 2012 international treaty deadline.

The fires tended to occur during the rocket shearing step of disposal, according to the findings of a Rocket Fires Working Group formed last April.

"Based on preliminary results of an investigation, (the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency) took steps to reduce the likelihood of rocket fires by increasing the amount of water used in the cutting area, plus other measures," investigators wrote in a report summary.

"These actions appear to have helped reduce the number of fires," they said.

Investigators examined 21 M55 rocket fires at five disposal plants between March 1994 and December 2005.

Of the 21 fires, 17 occurred in 2004 and 2005 at incineration plants in Pine Bluff and the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon.

They concluded the fires were most likely caused by the movement of an explosive chemical called nitroglycerin within the rocket motor assembly, forming concentrated droplets of the liquid chemical.

When struck with the rocket shear blade, the concentrations could cause a small fire, according to the report.

An M55 rocket is made of a fin nozzle assembly, a rocket motor, a chemical agent-filled warhead and fuze. In the disposal process, the rockets are punched and drained of chemical agent, sheared into eight pieces and destroyed in a furnace.

The working group recommended upgrading spray nozzles used to send cooling water to the shear blade. They also encouraged upgrading and relocating fire detectors.

The Army has already made the spray nozzle upgrade at the arsenal and is waiting for replacement parts before it installs the new fire detectors, Army spokesman Greg Mahall said.

Craig Williams, an anti-incineration advocate and director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group in Kentucky, said he was satisfied that any future fires could be managed now that they can be anticipated.

The investigation "should reassure workers and the public that such future anomalies do not pose a significant risk," Williams said.



E-mail: avekshin@stephensmedia.com