Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Beginning in November 2003, several minor M55 rocket fires occurred during disposal operations at three Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) disposal facilities in Anniston, Ala., Pine Bluff, Ark., and Umatilla, Ore. On April 7, 2005, after the second GB-filled M55 rocket fire in five months at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon, Gregory St. Pierre, chief of the CMA Risk Management Directorate, formed a Rocket Fires Working Group to investigate the fires, most of which appeared to occur during the rocket shearing step of disposal.

This working group developed seven objectives to address the rocket fires issue:

• Confirm the design basis of the chemical agent disposal facilities
• Identify ways of mitigating the consequences of a fire
• Identify minor facility modifications to reduce or preclude a recurrence of a fire
• Identify major facility modifications to reduce or preclude a recurrence of a fire
• Identify environmental and scheduling support requirements
• Reassess the stability of the propellant used in chemical rockets that were involved in the fires
• Assess the on-site transportation and handling risk involved
  with “sensitive” rockets – those rockets deemed to be susceptible to fires

The CMA Rocket Fires Working Group recently concluded its investigation into the rocket fires and released several reports. Three detailed reports reflecting the seven working group objectives were prepared by the U.S. Army; Washington Group International Defense Business Unit Chemical Demilitarization Company (WDC), a systems contractor that operates three of CMA’s four incineration technology disposal facilities; and Mitretek Systems, a non profit public interest corporation that provides independent research and analysis for federal, state and local governments. Taken together, the report findings give a comprehensive overview of the rocket fires investigation.

Safety is the cornerstone of CMA’s mission to eliminate the chemical weapons stockpile and the risks these weapons pose. The best way to protect the public is to continue safe disposal of these weapons, thereby reducing and ultimately eliminating stockpile storage risk. The U.S. Army is dedicated to the safe disposal of these weapons, and the recent thorough investigation into the cause of these fires demonstrates CMA’s continuing commitment to its workers, the public and the environment.

To view a summary and the reports associated with this investigation, click the links below.

For more information on M55 Rockets and to view photographs of the investigation process, click on the links to the right.