LOCAL
Wednesday,
April 28, 2004
Sarin vapor detected
in igloo
By AMYJO BROWN
of the East Oregonian
ajbrown@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — A Umatilla
Chemical Depot crew detected a trace amount of GB (Sarin) chemical agent
vapor inside a storage igloo at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
Igloos contain more than 3,000 tons of chemical agent stored in munitions
manufactured in the early 1950s and 1960s. Because of the age of the weapons,
most igloos are monitored weekly for leaking agent. Some, which store munitions
that have previously leaked, are monitored daily. Tuesday’s discovery of
vapor was in one of the igloos monitored daily.
The public was never in danger, said Mary Binder, spokesperson for
the U.S. Army.
The amount of vapor detected is “just above the level that we need
to report,” Binder said. “We’re talking about molecules. You and I could
probably go in (the igloo).”
The source of the vapor is not yet known, said Don Jespersen, chief
of the Army’s support and inspection division. Jespersen keeps track of the
munitions’ history, with records going back to 1984.
Vapor from the chemical weapons is rare, Jespersen said. It’s detected
just two or three times a year on average, but “there have been years we
have had eight or nine.”
This vapor detection is the second so far this year; another was
discovered in early April, in an igloo where leaking munitions have not been
found before.
It also was an igloo storing munitions containing GB, and so far
the source of that chemical vapor has not been located, Jespersen said.
He said experts have been trying to find a cause for why the munitions
leak specifically when they do — such as a particular weather pattern — but
none has been pinpointed.
There have been 159 instances of munitions leaking since 1984. Several
of those have leaked two or three times.
All munitions discovered to be leaking are put into additional containers
to keep the vapor from entering the atmosphere.
The depot is scheduled to begin the destruction of the chemical weapons
in July.