Defense Environment Alert 09/06/05

DRAFT STUDY ON CHEMICAL AGENT MONITORING BOOSTS ACTIVISTS' DEMANDS

A group advocating the safe destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles says a draft report by the National Research Council (NRC) bolsters their demand that the Army acquire advanced monitoring technology capable of quickly alerting workers to airborne chemical agent releases outside weapons storage facilities.

A spokesman for the Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG) also hopes the draft report will spur the Army to take action on airborne chemical agent monitoring systems as mandated in the National Defense Authorization Acts for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.

The Aug. 29 draft report, Monitoring at Chemical Agent Disposal Facilities, urges the Army to consider deploying technologies that would allow workers to respond faster to catastrophic releases of chemical agents and cut down on false alarms. Specifically, the report urges the Army to examine technologies such as fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) if risk analyses demonstrate they can enhance worker safety at an acceptable cost.

"Open- or folded-path FT-IR and CIMS technology have some promise for providing enhanced, fast-response chemical agent monitoring capability to chemical weapons storage and demilitarization facilities," the draft report states. Both technologies could provide effective multi-agent monitoring in restricted spaces, such as the area where workers unpack chemical weapons and prepare them for destruction, the draft report states.

The report is still under review, and an NRC spokeswoman says the final version will not be released until as late as the summer of 2006. Nonetheless, the CWWG spokesman says the draft report's recommendations on the need for additional airborne agent monitors are significant.

"I'm very encouraged that the report identifies that need and validates that need," the CWWG source says. At present, the Army uses technologies such as the Automatic Continuous Air Monitoring System (ACAMS) to monitor airborne releases at its six chemical weapons destruction facilities across the country. However, such systems are highly sensitive and therefore susceptible to false alarms, such as the one that occurred at the Tooele, UT, incineration facility in July 2004, the CWWG spokesman explains (Defense Environment Alert, July 27, 2004, p9).

The Army also relies on a system known as Depot Area Air Monitoring Systems (DAAMS), which are not connected to alarm systems and are present both inside chemical weapons disposal facilities and around the perimeter of depot property. These systems confirm readings from the ACAMS. But when DAAMS detects airborne agents, Army scientists must conduct a laboratory analysis to determine what kind of agent has been detected and in what concentration. ACAMS works much more quickly, but still requires several minutes, Army sources say.

"You don't have 15 minutes to four hours to do a lab analysis," the CWWG source says. "Workers need to know you need get out of there, or mask up."

FT-IR is not nearly as sensitive as ACAMS, but it can provide real-time information on releases outside storage igloos if the chemical agent concentration exceeds 0.05 milligrams per square meter. "Detecting a catastrophic release within a minute of the event would allow suitable action to be taken," the report states.

A spokeswoman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency, however, notes that the NRC report also determined that the reliability of ACAMS and DAAMS "appears to provide sufficient airborne agent monitoring capability to afford adequate protection to workers, the general public and the environment."

ACAMS operates quickly enough to alert workers outside storage igloos to a catastrophic event in "near real time," the spokeswoman says. While the system is susceptible to false alarms, it can detect miniscule amounts of airborne agent. "That's the kind of tradeoff we have to make in this business," the spokeswoman adds.

While FT-IR and CIMS systems have shown "some promise," they have not been properly demonstrated yet for use at the Army's chemical weapons destruction sites. The Army will review the NRC's report and assess what needs to be done, the spokeswoman says.

Congress has also pushed for better airborne chemical agent monitoring. Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY), whose state is home to the Blue Grass chemical weapons stockpile, added an amendment to the FY04 defense authorization act calling on the Secretary of the Army to "invigorate and coordinate efforts to develop chemical agents monitors with improved sensitivity, specificity and response time." In the FY05 defense authorization act, Bunning secured a provision providing $2 million to improve chemical agents monitoring at Blue Grass.

"The Army hasn't done anything with it," the CWWG source says. The CMA spokeswoman, however, stresses that the NRC report acknowledges that the Army has improved its existing monitoring systems, and notes that the Army has begun to examine both FT-IR and CIMS for possible deployment.

Bunning's staff could not be reached for comment on the report.