ARSENAL FIRE PROBE DELAYS DISPOSAL: 35 ROCKETS DESTROYED AFTER BLAZE

By Larry Ault/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday,  May 24, 2005  10:02 AM CDT

Disposal of GB nerve-agent filled rockets resumed Sunday evening after officials of the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility made adjustments to shearing equipment.

Raini K. Wright, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, said Monday disposal operations involved the remaining 35 GB rockets, which were processed Sunday night without incident.

Wright said disposal operations were not resumed on Monday and will not begin again until "after we have made adjustments to the equipment."

Wright said the cause of a flare up Sunday morning is still under review.

Officials stopped disposal operations for GB nerve agent filled rockets Sunday after control room operators responded to a fire in the Explosion Containment Room A.

Wright said facility officials don't know the cause of fires on two separate incidents that stopped the processing on Sunday and on May 11, when a similar fire followed the uneventful destruction of thousands of rockets and the Arsenal shut down operations for two days to investigate.

Wright described the incidents as an "infrequent occurrence. We do expect it to happen."

Wright said the incident occurred in an explosion containment room, which is a 24-inch steel reinforced concrete structure.

"This is something we plan for and expected," Wright said of the rocket debris igniting.

The rockets being destroyed are at least 40 years old, Wright said, explaining some were transported to the Pine Bluff Arsenal from other Army facilities and some were manufactured by a private contractor in Canada. The GB rockets were transported to Pine Bluff between 1961 and 1965.

Wright said the rockets that contain GB nerve agent are "pumped and drained. They have been emptied of all the agent."

However, Wright said the rockets have propellant and a motor and it was that section of the rocket that flared up.

"We don't know the direct cause," she said.

Wright said the rockets are not likely to explode. However, she said, "Even if we did have an explosion, it would be contained."

Wright said walls in the containment area are designed to contain an explosion.

"That room will isolate itself off," Wright said, explaining it is unlikely for the facility to emit any agents into the atmosphere.

Wright said that after the fifth cut on the 152nd GB rocket processed on line A Sunday, the sheared rocket debris ignited, creating a small flame that lasted approximately 20 seconds before being extinguished.

The chemical agent was contained within engineering controls, ensuring the safety of the site personnel, the community and the environment. Wright explained that sometimes there is a small amount of agent left "even when they are drained."

Arsenal officials reported that the automated process -- moving rockets laced with sarin nerve agent along conveyor belts, shearing them into smaller pieces and burning them in a furnace -- had worked well for 151 rockets Sunday.

When the machine made a fifth cut on the 152nd rocket of the day, debris caught fire.

Last week, processing stopped because of concerns over a fire in Umatilla, Ore., where the same contractor, Washington Group International, runs a nearly identical project.

Wright said Sunday's fire caused no damage to equipment, which continued to function after the fire was put out.

Wright said that the facility has disposed of 6,324 rockets so far, and 53,121 pounds of chemical agents.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal has stored 3,850 tons of chemical agent for more than 60 years.

Wright added that "neither one of these instances has been an emergency."

The Pine Bluff Arsenal and the depot in Oregon each contain 12 percent of the nation's chemical weapons stockpile, which must be destroyed in full by 2012 under an international treaty signed by 65 countries.