Report looks at stockpile issues

By Nathan Solheim
Assistant Metro Editor
02-07-2004

A study from the National Research Council released Thursday supports the Army’s contention that continued storage of chemical weapons poses a greater risk to the community than incinerating them does. The NRC’s study focuses on the effects of leaking munitions in storage and during disposal. It outlines why many of the stockpiled chemical weapons are leaking, and points out shortfalls in the Army’s collection of data concerning the stored weapons. It also makes several recommendations regarding storage issues. Incineration of the Cold War-era chemical weapons stored in igloos at the Anniston Army Depot began Aug. 9. Recently, workers at the incinerator have been fine-tuning the process to destroy rockets in which the chemical agent has crystallized. Pete Lederman, a retired engineering professor from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and chairman of the NRC committee that authored the new study, said a stabilizer added to GB nerve agent in the 1960s formed the crystals. He also said an acid in the nerve agent eats away at the metal parts of M-55 rockets. However, the risks associated with storage of the chemical weapons are from external forces, not from the chemistry inside the munitions, he said. “The major risk is lightning or some other situation that would cause a whole igloo to go up,” Lederman said. The study says Army records show that of the eight chemical weapons storage sites in the nation, Anniston has had the second-largest number of leakers. From 1992 through June of 2002, 578 leaking rockets were detected here, of the 1,633 total leaking munitions found across all eight storage facilities. Lederman said there is no information to suggest why Anniston and the chemical storage facility in Tooele, Utah, have had much larger numbers of leaking munitions than the other storage sites have. The committee’s report recommends that the Army keep better records of degrading agent, leaking munitions, and temperatures inside the munitions. Lederman said data collected by the Army was used for the report, but it wasn’t a good match for the kinds of data the scientists would have liked to have. The Army’s system of data collection on weapons is not geared toward weapons awaiting destruction, he said. The study said there is no statistical evidence to suggest the rate at which munitions begin leaking will increase as time passes. The study also said the Army should establish that VX munitions leak less frequently than GB munitions. Anniston has both. In order to combat corrosion of parts of some GB munitions, they should be destroyed as soon as possible, the report said. The study recommends that the Army maintain an aggressive monitoring and data-analysis program. Craig Williams, of the Chemical Weapons Working Group in Kentucky, which opposes incineration, said the study’s conclusions are no real surprise. He said the study is light on information about monitoring during disposal and that it focuses too much on storage. “I will say this, the recommendation they made for more consistent and frequent monitoring is something we’d agree with and advocate,” Williams said. “The Army’s job is to make sure this stuff is contained and controlled during storage.” Calls to incinerator officials seeking comment were not returned. To date, the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has destroyed 18,105 M-55 rockets and 19,711 gallons of GB nerve agent, or sarin.

About Nathan Solheim

Assistant Metro Editor Nathan Solheim is Minnesota native and a University of Georgia graduate.