04/28/2005
Destruction of nerve gas rockets at the Umatilla Chemical Depot is on
hold following a weekend fire in a containment room. Depot spokeswoman Mary Binder said it is unclear when incineration of
the rockets might resume. "An investigative team is still working on the cause analysis," she said
Thursday. "It is possible that we will not be able to pinpoint an exact cause."
The incinerator is destroying M55 rockets that contain GBSarin, a deadly
nerve agent. Binder said so far 12,828 of the rockets, about 14 percent of
those stored at the depot, have been destroyed. The rockets are only a part of the nerve- and blister-agent mines, rockets,
bombs and artillery shells stored at the depot. If incineration is on schedule
all of it will be destroyed in about 2010. The depot had about 12 percent of the national stockpile when the incineration
project started in September. Incineration was suspended for three weeks last December to retrain workers
after one of them accidentally cracked a seal on a door inside a filter unit.
There have been other shorter delays. Binder said Saturday's fire began at the fifth cut of seven that chops
up a rockets for incineration. The cut was the first one into the propellant
section. There were no injuries. The incinerator has two containment rooms. In one the rockets are punched
and drained of the chemical agent. In the other they are cut into pieces
for burning. With the delays and other complications, she said, "It is going a little
slower than we had hoped." The aging Cold War-era weapons containing VX, sarin and mustard agent were
transferred to the depot in the early 1960s. The United States is under treaty
obligation to destroy them. Destruction of the 7.3 million pounds of weapons is expected to cost about
$2.4 billion.