News

BINARY DESTRUCTION FACILITY REACHES MILESTONE

By Amy Riggin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, April 7, 2006 10:48 AM CDT

WHITE HALL — The U.S. Army Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project's binary destruction facility reached a substantial milestone Thursday as workers at the Pine Bluff Arsenal destroyed the last of the United States' inventory of the binary chemical precursor DF.

The binary chemical DF, methylphosphonic diflouride, was designed to mix with another non-lethal chemical in flight to a target to form the nerve agent GB, or sarin. A 1989 agreement with the former USSR ended the binary program in 1991, leaving the DF in secure storage until destruction.

Crews began destroying DF -- stored in more than 56,000 small canisters and seven drums -- in December.

Now that the DF has been destroyed, workers will spend the next eight weeks preparing the facility to destroy the country's inventory of the binary precursor chemical QL, or diisopropyl aminoethylmethyl phosphonite.

QL was designed to combine with another non-lethal chemical to form the nerve agent VX. The QL campaign is scheduled to run from June to July, completing all U.S. binary precursor destruction.

According to Larry Friedman, binary project manager, Alabama-based Teledyne Brown Engineering employed 70 people to support around-the-clock operations and maintenance during the past four months to reach the milestone.

Binary precursor chemical destruction enables the United States to meet specific milestones under the Chemical Weapons Convention, a treaty requiring destruction of all chemical warfare materiel and production capacity by April 2007.

"There has never been a facility like this," Friedman said. "I'm extremely proud of our team. The integrated effort between Pine Bluff Arsenal, our organization and our contractor, and their professionalism and hard work, is what made this a success."

Joe Daven, field office manager for the non-stockpile project, praised the professionalism of the workers, who he said "adapted to unique challenges to complete the project safely and efficiently, without injury or accident."

The building housing the facility is the final structure left of the arsenal's original Integrated Binary Production Facilities. After completing QL destruction this summer, crews will demolish the structure, helping the U.S. meet another treaty requirement.