| Umatilla Chemical incineration plant passes
another milestone By Hal McCune of the East Oregonian HERMISTON — The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has destroyed more than 50,000 M55 rockets filled with some of the nastiest chemical agent ever devised — sarin nerve agent. As of midnight Monday, the disposal facility had destroyed 50,007 M55 rockets, or about 54 percent of those stockpiled at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. They represent the most volatile of the chemical weapons stored at the depot. The depot also is home to munitions containing VX nerve agent and mustard, a blistering agent. The entire supply is scheduled to be destroyed by 2012. A rocket fire Friday morning in one of two explosive containment rooms caused only a brief delay in rocket processing. Standard procedure calls for halting both processing lines when there’s any abnormal incident. But both lines were operating again before the end of the day. Friday’s rocket fire caused “no damage,” said Mary Binder, public affairs officer for the depot. As in previous rocket fires at the facility Dec. 7 and four times last spring and summer, it occurred after the sarin had been drained and the rocket was being sheared into pieces before dropping into an incinerator. This fire was less intense than previous incidents. It was “more of a pressure pulse and less of a fire,” Project General Manager Doug Hamrick said after the incident. The explosive containment rooms are remotely operated so there is no danger of injury when a rocket fire occurs. They also have fire suppression systems that douse any fires. Friday’s rocket fire was over “instantaneously,” Binder said. An Army investigation into the rocket fires after incidents last spring concluded the aging fuel in the rocket motors was a likely cause of the fires, but the study was inconclusive. Four of the six rocket fires at the depot, including the most recent incident, have involved rockets from the same October 1962 lot, so the fuel was from the same batch. The two other rockets were from lots produced in July and August 1963. |
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