By James R. Carroll
jcarroll@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

WASHINGTON -- Aging rockets armed with chemical weapons at Kentucky's Blue Grass Army Depot pose no safety hazard in storage, based on preliminary test results released by the Pentagon yesterday.

The Defense Department said tests pointed to degrading fuel as a possible cause of fires involving similar weapons in Oregon.

But the officials want to conduct more tests before deciding whether the rockets stored at the depot near Richmond are too unstable and should be separated from their warheads.

"No decisions have been made in terms of what to do in Kentucky," said Katherine DeWeese, spokeswoman for the Pentagon's Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program.

Tests on nine motor assemblies from M55 rockets at Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon confirmed that nitroglycerin, a component in the fuel, had migrated to spaces between the rocket motors and steel casings, according to the Army's Chemical Materials Agency.

The nitroglycerin is "a potential cause of the fires" when the volatile chemical is pressed tighter as rocket components are cut up, the agency said in a statement. It added that the fires appear to be random.

Five rockets caught fire in April and May during cutting operations in Oregon and at Pine Bluff, Ark. Tests are planned on sample rockets from Arkansas in the next month or so, according to the Army.

The Army said "other preliminary data indicated that the rockets are safe in storage, transport and handling."

Gregory St. Pierre, director of the materials agency's risk management, said in a statement that the Oregon findings are preliminary.

"The jury is still out as we prepare to look at and contrast these test results with the Pine Bluff samples," St. Pierre said. "At this point we are dealing in conjecture."

The Blue Grass depot has 77,000 M55 rockets as part of a chemical weapons arsenal slated for destruction under international treaty.

The Senate on Wednesday approved an amendment offered by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that he said could allow groundbreaking next year on a destruction plant at the depot. McConnell's amendment to a defense spending measure allows the Pentagon to use $51 million to prepare for construction of the plant and a similar site in Pueblo, Colo.

The spending measure is awaiting a final Senate vote. The House has passed a similar bill, but without the Blue Grass provision. Differences in the bills eventually will have to be worked out in a conference committee.