Star Staff Writer
The Army should develop and use faster, more reliable and more sensitive air monitoring systems at its eight chemical weapons storage sites around the country, including the Anniston Army Depot, says an amendment that was expected to pass Congress Tuesday night or today.
The amendment is the latest development in a continuing debate about agent monitors and alarms at the depot, where thousands of tons of nerve and blister agent have been stored since the 1960s, and are being destroyed in a $1 billion incinerator.
The “sense of Congress” amendment, which expresses opinion but does not make law or come with money, was attached to the 2004 Defense Authorization bill.
The provision was softer than the version proposed by Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) and supported by Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), but was still a victory for chemical weapons activists.
The Army maintains that the systems it has in place are top-caliber, extremely sensitive and serves its needs very well.
“We have the best equipment that Congress will fund,” said Mike Abrams, spokesman for the Anniston Chemical Weapons Disposal Facility. “And there is nothing currently on the market that we know of that is anything better than what we currently have.”
But some outside the military say that other technologies, if used with current systems, could make workers and communities safer.
“What you’ve got now are the safety belts, and what you need are airbags in conjunction with the safety belts,” said Craig Williams, executive director of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group. “It’s not an either-or proposition.”
There are hundreds of agent detectors at the chemical weapons incinerator, and 13 air monitoring stations at the depot perimeter, Abrams said.
These monitors are capable of detecting very low levels of chemical agent.
“It’s as if the fire chief has the benefit of a pre-smoke alarm,” Abrams said. “Whether it’s false or its positive, if we have an alarm we know to take defensive actions before there is a level of danger.”
But, the system can also pick up other substances, such as roofing glue, which set off false alarms at the incinerator in September.
The air monitoring system has two components, both of which suck air into filters. The primary system tests the samples every few minutes, but destroys them in the process. If it sounds an agent alarm, workers must take samples from the backup system to the lab for analysis and confirmation.
The process can take at least 15 to 20 minutes, Abrams said.
The National Research Council, which advises the government of scientific issues, has expressed concerns about the time lag.
Among other technologies, the Army has looked at Fourier Transform Infared Spectroscopy (FTIR), which uses a beam of light to “read” open air. It gives immediate readings, but can’t detect minute quantities of agent.
Williams argued that it could still help protect the public.
“It’s not a question of quantification at low levels but the quantification at high levels,” he said.
If the current system detected trace amounts of nerve agent, 20 minutes for a confirmation wouldn’t make a difference, Williams said. “The workers and the community are not going to be immediately impacted by a level that low.”
But if a high level were showing up, “you don’t have 20 minutes to figure it out,” he said. “Wouldn’t it be nice it the alarm went off in the stack and the FTIR could confirm within 10 seconds whether it’s really agent?”
It is unclear how much upgrades might cost.
“The current monitoring system exceeds all standards,” Abrams said. “If it becomes law, the Army will employ the means necessary to meet this additional direction.”