| A loose batch of nitroglycerin may have been
responsible for three fires that occurred during rocket processing at the
Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility this spring.
Testing on rockets from the facility in Umatilla, Ore., revealed
that the nitro, used as a propellant in the rockets, migrated into a space
between the rocket engines and steel housing. The fires started as shearing
machines cut near that area during processing.
Officials with the Chemical Materials Agency, which tested
the rockets at a facility in Picatinny, N.J., stressed that the results were
preliminary.
The fires at Umatilla stopped rocket destruction for three
weeks this spring as crews looked for the cause of the incidents. All occurred
after the seventh and final cut into the rockets during shearing.
"It’s where the rocket and the motor all come together," said
Greg Mahall, a spokesman for the CMA. "The only thing down there is the metal
and the propellant."
The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility destroyed the
last of its M55 sarin-filled rockets last year but experienced only one fire
during processing, and the reasons why the Umatilla rockets were more flammable
still is unknown.
"It’s all speculative," Mahall said. "All I can say is it’s
so random, there aren’t any real predictors, based on what we’ve seen today."
A final report on the fires is expected in mid-August. The
Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in White Hall, Ark., experienced
two fires during rocket destruction last spring; samples of its munitions
are expected to be sent to Picatinny by August.
"I cannot stress enough that these are preliminary results,"
CMA risk management director Gregory St. Pierre said in a statement. "The
jury is still out as we prepare to look at and contrast these test results
with the Pine Bluff samples."
|
