News

Depot to transfer nerve agent to new containers

More than 170 gallons of a nerve agent and decontaminant mixture at the Blue Grass Army Depot will be transferred from its current container to two new containers, the Blue Grass Chemical Activity recently announced.

Workers at the activity, the agency in charge of storing and monitoring weapons at the depot, installed several new plugs in the original container last month, but the procedure was halted when one of the plugs failed to seal.

The group was able to seal the eroded plug, and no agent vapor was detected outside the confined area where the operation took place, according to activity officials.

"The old container obviously has some corrosion inside," said Dick Sloan, public affairs officer for the activity. "We didn't know how much, but it was a question and didn't meet the safety standards for the workers in the community."

The transfer will be tested for safety before the actual operation begins. The date, expected to be early this month, will be determined by favorable weather conditions to minimize the risk to depot employees and the community.

The contents will be transferred in a filtered, negatively pressurized glove box holding the original and new containers.

The operation will be conducted by a trained and experienced crew from the 22nd Chemical Battalion from Arkansas' Pine Bluff Arsenal in a large portable vapor containment structure, also under negative pressure.

The procedure is expected to take two days, at which point all containers will be placed into the same igloo for storage. The containers will be monitored daily, according to activity officials.