LOCAL NEWS

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Wednesday, November 2, 2005


Disposal facility has best month ever

By Hal McCune
of the East Oregonian

HERMISTON — The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility just completed its most prolific month since incineration began in September of 2004.

“October was by far our most productive month,” said Adam Russell, acting public affairs officer.

The facility destroyed 7,489 GB M55 rockets in October, he said, compared to the previous monthly high of 5,473 in June.

“I felt all along watching this organization that it was a diamond in the rough,” said Don Barclay, the Army’s site project manager for the disposal facility. “We’re starting to see some polish.”

But while he was pleased with the facility’s efficient operation in October, Barclay said it was more significant that the facility marked one year of safe work days on Oct. 23 without a lost-time accident. He said a big production month “wouldn’t have been as fulfilling” if the safety record had been compromised.

At of the end of the day Monday, the disposal facility had destroyed 38,587 GB rockets filled with sarin nerve agent. That’s 42.2 percent of the GB rockets stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot, but only about 6 percent of its total stockpile of chemical weapons, which also includes VX nerve agent and mustard, a blistering agent.

But because GB rockets represent the greatest risk to the public, the overall risk of continued storage of chemical munitions at the Umatilla Chemical Depot is down about a third, according to the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency.

The disposal facility reached another milestone last month, matching the highest single-day rocket processing total for a continental U.S. chemical demilitarization facility: 642 GB rockets on Oct. 24. That week, Oct. 24-30, also was the highest weekly total for the facility at 2,566.

The facility also successfully completed its Toxic Substances Control Act trial burns last weekend, said Russell. The trial is intended to demonstrate the plant’s ability to filter out PCBs during processing.

“The machines ran fine and the initial indications are that all went well,” Russell said.

The disposal facility likely will process more GB bombs by the end of the week, after a down day Thursday for maintenance, he explained. The long-range plan is to process GB rockets the first three weeks of each month and GB bombs the last week or so.

While operations are progressing well, Barclay cautioned that, “We have a lot of challenges left” to complete the destruction of all the weapons at the depot.

For instance, he said more rocket fires during processing are likely, considering more than half the GB rocket stockpile remains. A handful of rocket fires have occurred in the explosive containment rooms, causing little damage and no threat to people or the environment. But such fires slow down processing.

However, Barclay said the performance of the facility and its staff in recent weeks has been gratifying. “It’s nice to finally see it,” he said of operating near capacity.