CAUSE OF FIRE REMAINS UNANSWERED

Published: May 24, 2005

By Karen Hutchinson-Talaski
Staff writer

Rick Kelley, public affairs official for Washington Group International, the contractor for the UMCDF, says the root cause analysis team is drafting their report and hope to have it to the Army and DEQ soon.

"Once it goes to them, it will be up to them to give us the go ahead to start," Kelley said.

Part of the difficulty, Kelley says, with the fires that erupted in the Explosive Containment Room (ECR) is that the analysis done has not been able to determine a cause for the fire.

A program task force has been put together which includes such players are the Army, the Army Corps of Engineers, Washington Group and all the sites managed by Washington Group. Those include Anniston, Ala., Pine Bluff, Ark. and Umatilla. Washington Group has partnered with Bechtel on the chemical weapons facilities soon to be built in Pueblo, Colo. and Blue Grass, Kent.

"We are trying to narrow the possible causes," Kelley said. "The task force will look at the rockets, the design of the building and the design of the equipment."

One question that will hopefully be answered has to do with rocket propellant. Has the long storage of the M55 GB-filled rockets caused the propellant to deteriorate to the point that it is causing the fires when the shear blade cuts the rocket motor section?

To help answer that question, parts of the rocket propellant are being shipped to Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey for testing to determine if the propellant itself is causing the fires. Rocket propellant samples are also being sent from Anniston, Ala. and Pine Bluff, Ark. There have been two fires at Pine Bluff in recent weeks and at least one fire at the Anniston facility.

According to Don Barclay, site project manager for the Army, tests are being finalized and could include repeating the type of stresses the rockets were under during the shear, the physical condition and chemical analysis of the propellant.

The plant has taken corrective action to try to prevent another fire. But, as the fire on May 18 showed, those measures weren't enough to stop another fire.

One thing that is in the plant's favor is the fact that the fire suppression system is working properly.

The fires that occurred on April 7 and 23 were not extinguished immediately which caused damage to several pieces of equipment. The May 18 fire was put out within seconds after modifications were made to the water deluge system. There was little damage to the equipment.

The modifications expanded the water deluge system to cover a broader area. In addition, a sensor was reprogrammed to activate the system more quickly.

However, until the plant and the Army can prove to DEQ that the problems have been solved, operations at the plant are at a standstill. Between May 5 and May 18, the day of the third fire, the plant had processed 1,699 rockets, with 11,306 pounds of GB sarin gas destroyed. A total of 14,530 rockets or 15.9 percent of the M55 GB rockets, have been drained and incinerated since the plant began operations on Sept. 7, 2004. More than 147,440 pounds of agent, or 1.98 percent of total agent, has been destroyed in that time period. Five igloos, or storage units, at the Umatilla Chemical Depot have been emptied.