Council: Pilot plant will destroy weapons safely
By Ronica Brandenburg/Register News Writer

The National Research Council has studied and is supporting the design and operations of the Blue Grass Agent Destruction Pilot Plant. NRC representative Bill Gekler reviewed the committee's findings at Tuesday's meeting of the Chemical Demilitarization Community Advisory Board.

“We believe that the (facility) is able to safely and effectively destroy chemical agent in the munitions stored at Blue Grass,” said Gekler, a member of the committee to assess designs for Pueblo and Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant.

The Blue Grass Army Depot is home to hundreds of munitions containing GB, VX or “sarin” and mustard agents. They have been stored in “igloos” since World War II. The nations goal is to have all chemical agent munitions destroyed by 2012.

The pilot plant will be built on the depot's site and designs have been reconfigured after the Pentagon froze funding earlier this year.

The facility's design must be 60 percent complete by February, 2006 and is meant to reduce costs and speed the process of destroying chemical weapons. About 800 employees will be needed once the facility is constructed and operating.

The previous plant design called for 99,000 square feet; however, the redesign has decreased the size to about 69,000 square feet.

The current cost for the plant is estimated at approximately $2 billion.

Geckler, who was part of a large NRC committee, studied the preliminary plans for the plant and considered what would be taking place during operations.

The intermediate design should be complete by May 2006. Final design should be complete in September 2006 and operations at the plant are expected to start in 2008, according to Chris Haynes, project manager for Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass.

Bill Pehlivanian, deputy program manager of Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, said a possible $10 million could be available for construction in 2006, but, “unfortunately, I can't give you a number (on 2007) at this time,” he said.

“A lot of good things are starting to happen,” Pehlivanian said. “We're getting a lot of good information to help balance the cost schedule along with not giving up any safety.”

In other business:

€ Jeanne Hibberd, a Berea civic representative, spoke out to highlight the importance of having a citizens' working group report to the CDCAB at its quarterly meetings.

“At the September meeting, it was suggested that CDCAB and local governments could use more information about what to expect in terms of community development impact resulting from the disposal facility,” Hibberd said. “Since that time, I've met with outreach office staff and talked with CDCAB members and others. All agree it makes sense for the CDCAB to look deeper into this issue.”

She pointed out that the comprehensive plans for Richmond, Berea and Madison County lack information regarding the Blue Grass Army Depot and the destruction of its weapons.

“They acknowledge that the facility's going to be built, but they really don't have a clear interpretation of what's going to happen,” she said. “Do we have enough information to plan strategically? We can wait and see what happens or work toward and anticipate what's most likely to happen.”

Hibberd said she wants to make sure the community is prepared for a boom in employment and revenue, but then a bust when the weapons are destroyed.

Madison Judge-Executive and CDCAB co-chair Kent Clark is not so sure the impact will be as significant as Hibberd anticipates.

“Everybody's talking about this major impact,” Clark said. “It's not a major impact. We're (the county) 78,000 people right now will be 86,000 in 2010. We're talking about starting out slow, going up to about 800 jobs (once the pilot plant is complete) and go back down. We're growing at a rate of 115 people per month and we have been for years. We're prepared for the growth whether they build the facility or not.”

Ronica Brandenburg can be reached at rbrandenburg@ richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.