Tue, Mar. 9, 2004

Army developing new chemical detection requirement
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

By Alison Vekshin
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Saying it wants to respond to community concerns, the U.S. Army is developing a new requirement to sharpen its ability to detect leaks at eight chemical weapons storage sites, including the one at Pine Bluff Arsenal.

The Army's Chemical Materials Agency held a workshop Monday where state environmental officials, community activists and disposal site officials were invited to comment.

Six of the affected states were represented at the meeting. Arkansas and Indiana officials did not attend the first day of the two-day session.

At the session, participants came up with 13 recommendations for the Army, including improving the community notification process, adding supplemental monitoring, lowering false alarms and improving measurement equipment.

"The meeting today was to better understand the concerns of the community," said Michael Parker, the agency's director.

Parker said the agency is hoping to produce a new requirement by the end of the year and begin implementing it by next spring.

He added that existing systems the Army has in place at weapons plants exceed all of the current federal requirements.

Existing equipment can detect chemical agents and trigger an alarm within 15 minutes of their release, said agency spokesman Greg Mahall.

While some local representatives recommended real-time ability to detect agent release, Mahall said the technology is not available.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal is one of eight sites where the nation's chemical weapons stockpiles will be destroyed in accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal is scheduled to begin incinerating its stockpile this winter.

The arsenal houses 12 percent of the government's chemical stockpile, which includes blister agent, mustard gas, and the nerve agents VX and sarin.