PB arms incineration halts after second
fire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WHITE HALL — The Pine Bluff Arsenal
has stopped incinerating chemical weapons for the third time in two weeks
because of a second small fire.
The arsenal pulled the plug on destroying the nation’s secondlargest stockpile
of chemical weapons Sunday morning after what the Army Chemical Materials
Agency called "a small flare-up in the explosion containment room."
The automated process of moving rockets containing sarin nerve agent along
conveyor belts, shearing them into smaller pieces and burning them in a furnace
had worked well for 151 rockets Sunday. But when a machine made a fifth cut
on the 152nd rocket of the day, debris caught fire. It flared for about 20
seconds before being extinguished.
A similar fire May 11 followed the relatively uneventful destruction of thousands
of rockets, and the arsenal shut down operations for two days to investigate.
Then, last week, processing stopped again because of concerns over a fire
in Umatilla, Ore., where the same contractor, Washington Group International,
is running a nearly identical project.
As with the others, Sunday’s fire posed no danger to arsenal workers or the
public and caused no damage to equipment, which continued to function after
the fire was extinguished, an Army news release said.
"At this time, the cause of the flare up is being investigated," the Army
statement said. "Disposal operations will resume once site officials are
confident that any necessary corrective measures have been implemented."
The Arkansas arsenal and the depot in Oregon each contain 12 percent of the
nation’s chemical weapons stockpile, which must be destroyed in full by 2012
under an international treaty signed by 65 countries
