Local
RICHMOND - Workers searching for the source
of a chemical leak at Blue Grass Army Depot found three leaking rockets yesterday,
depot officials announced. The leak of the nerve agent GB, also known as Sarin, was discovered May
10. Six days later, workers entered the storage igloo to try to isolate the
source of the leak among 2,500 rockets.
The rockets were placed into leakproof containers and the search for more leaks will continue for at least three days, depot spokesman Rich-ard Sloan said in a news release. The rockets will eventually be moved to another storage igloo.
GB is odorless and colorless, and evaporates quickly. More than 51,000 M55 rockets and nearly 4,000 8-inch projectiles filled with the decades-old nerve agent are stored at the depot.
Meanwhile, Army officials said they have begun investigating the cause of five fires that have occurred since April 7 at chemical weapons incineration sites at Umatilla, Ore., and Pine Bluff, Ark.
Those fires all occurred while processing rockets that had been drained of GB. No one was injured and there was no harm to the environment, officials say.
The Army is expected to use a similar process when the Madison County depot's chemical weapons stockpile is destroyed.