Fri, Nov. 14, 2003


Congress suggests arsenal safety upgrades
Friday, Nov 14, 2003

By Alison Vekshin
WASHINGTON --A defense bill that Congress completed this week recommends the Army improve safety monitoring at the Pine Bluff Arsenal and other sites that stockpile aging chemical weapons.

The legislation aims to prod the Army to invest in new technology that might detect chemical leaks faster than systems now in place, according to supporters.

Twelve lawmakers, including Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., wrote in July that "newer and advanced" systems, like infrared spectrometers, could reduce warning time from 20 minutes "to less than 10 seconds."

"This dramatic reduction in detection time is crucial for better protection of the people and environment around these sites during a possible emergency situation," they wrote.

A "sense of the Senate" amendment that suggests the change, but does not require it, was placed into the 2004 defense authorization bill that is on its way to the White House to be signed into law by President Bush.

The same bill includes $24 million for improvements at the Pine Bluff Arsenal's white phosphorus factory.

Additionally, it includes $5 million for the government to buy 120mm mortar illumination munitions assembled at the arsenal. Pine Bluff also will share $275 million for mortar and artillery munitions procurement, lawmakers said.

The chemical safety provision was authored by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., whose state is home to one of eight weapons storage plants.

The government has started incinerating aging stockpile weapons at Anniston, Ala., and Tooele, Utah.

An incinerator is set to begin burning stored chemical weapons at Pine Bluff in April. It has been performing test burns.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal houses 12 percent of the government's chemical stockpile. The plan is to incinerate the entire stockpile by 2010.

The Army believes the chemical agent monitoring now in place "is fully protective of the workers, the community and the environment," Army spokesman Greg Mahall said. "The system as it is now has evolved over time and it is the current state of the art in monitoring."

Mahall said he did not know how the Army might respond to the legislation.

"This is a fluid, not a stagnant, program," he said.

The Bunning provision won approval from the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky-based organization that opposes the incineration process.

"We are pleased that the Senate has approved this provision and has added its strong voice to the call to better keep workers and citizens safe from these lethal materials," group director Craig Williams said in a statement.

At Pine Bluff and other weapons sites, automatic monitors sample air for four minutes, then analyze the sample and display the results, according to the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency.

The Army employs a "gas chromatography" process that separates compounds in the air samples to detect and report levels of chemical agents. Any amount of agent present that exceeds allowable levels triggers an alarm, the Army said.

The facility uses alarms and sensors on thousands of pieces of equipment, including doors, switches, valves, furnaces and storage tanks, according to the Army.