East Oregonian
October 31, 2003

Friday, October 31, 2003

Another ‘leaker’ points up need to destroy munitions

By JEANNINE KORANDA of the East Oregonian
jkoranda@eastoregonian.com


HERMISTON — Traces of deadly sarin gas were detected in a storage igloo at the Umatilla Chemical Depot Thursday, the same day a group of public officials from Umatilla and Walla Walla Counties visited an empty igloo elsewhere in the sprawling weapons dump and toured the incinerator built to destroy the weapons.

Depot officials stressed that none of the gas escaped into the atmosphere. Nor did it pose any threat to the visiting dignitaries. But the leak, one of hundreds of such incidents detected in recent years, further illustrated the need to get rid of World War II era munitions that are corroding after 60 years of storage. Critics of incineration also want the weapons destroyed but think it should be done by an alternative method that does not include burning.

A crew conducting routine monitoring detected a trace amount of GB (sarin) vapor in the igloo bunker Thursday morning. The bunker contains M55 rockets. The igloo has a passive filter system, which prevents chemical agent vapor from escaping, but as a further precaution, a powered filter system was installed after the leak was detected.

Mary Binder, public affairs officer for the depot, said later next week, a crew in protecitive gear will go into the igloo and find the packing container with the leaking rocket. The container and rocket will then be isolated in an aluminum overpack container and placed in a separate igloo with other leaking containers containing GB (sarin).

While Tuesday’s leak was detected by monitoring the air in the igloo, many of the leaks discovered often don’t progress that far, she said. Most are discovered when crews insert air testing equipment into individual packing cases for the M55 rockets.

Walla Walla County Commissioners and emergency management staff who toured the depot with Umatilla County Commissioners talked about Thursday’s leak during their tour.

Although Walla Walla County is about 60 miles from the depot, residents there still have questions about safety, said Liz Jessee, Walla Walla County emergency management technician, especially since the depot has been in the news more frequently.

“It’s on people’s minds,” she said.

The tour was one of the last to take place under current security measures. As the beginning of incineration nears, now set for late spring to early summer, the process of touring the storage area and incinerator will become more difficult, said Binder.

There was even concern at one point that the increased security measures would be in place by Thursday’s tour, she told the group.

Right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Walla Walla County had a lot of people calling with safety questions, but that has tapered off, Emergency Manager Don Marlatt said.

After seeing the operation, Marlatt said it will be easier to reassure people about the operation’s safety.

Walla Walla County has been working to improve places to house an influx of people if an incident at the depot ever created large numbers of evacuees, he said. The county also is anticipating a large number of people not exhibiting any symptoms of exposure to a chemical agent who still would want to be checked out.

The all-day tour Thursday included viewing one of the empty storage igloos and the rooms where rockets and bombs will eventually be drained of their chemical agents, chopped up and sent to the incinerator. The group also visited the Umatilla County Justice Center in Pendleton, which would serve as a communications center, and a mobile shelter unit in Hermiston.

The visitors also got a surprise view of some of the thousands of antelope that live on the depot while they were grazing near some of the igloos used to store weapons awaiting destruction.

The incineration complex is designed to destroy the rockets and missiles at the depot containing sarin and VX, as well as the blister agent mustard gas.

Walla Walla County Commissioner David Carey said he had been concerned by news of leaking chemical weapons but he felt reassured after viewing the depot’s safety measures.

The Umatilla Chemical Depot is one of nine sites around the country that will destroy 31,500 tons of chemical weapons. According to information distributed by the Umatilla Chemical Disposal Outreach Office in Hermiston, 26.1 percent of the national stockpile, or 8,220 tons, already has been destroyed.

Johnston Atoll, an island southwest of Hawaii, has completed its operation had is closed after destroying 2,031 tons. Tooele, Utah, which stores the majority of the country’s VX nerve agent, an estimated 13,616 tons, has destroyed 7,566 tons so far.

The Umatilla Chemical Depot stores 3,717 tons of chemical weapons, or about 12 percent of the national stockpile.

Other chemical depots are in Pueblo, Colo.; Pine Bluff, Ark.; Anniston, Ala.; Blue Grass, Ky.; Aberdeen, Md.; and Newport, Ind.

Once the burning operation begins, visiting the Umatilla Chemical Depot will still be possible, but it will be much more difficult, Binder said. Before Sept. 11, the depot was open to the general public for tours. Tours were canceled for a time afterward but have some have been scheduled in recent months. As the start of incineration nears, the depot is gradually stepping up security, she said. Once weapons began moved into the incinerator faculty for destruction, the entire site will be treated like a chemical storage area. That means even if tours are allowed, people wouldn’t be able to see as much due to exposure concerns. They also would have to go through a more in-depth health evaluation and be issued a gas mask.