Published: December
13, 2006 12:59 pm
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bad news for depot
DOD no longer in favor of on-site water oxidation
Register News Writer
For the second time in less than a month, citizens pushing for the safe but speedy destruction of chemical weapons at the Blue Grass Army Depot have received some bad news from the Pentagon.
The Defense Department no longer wants to conduct on-site super-critical water oxidation (SCWO) of the hazardous material that will result from neutralization of the chemical agents in the rockets, bombs, land mines and artillery shells stored at the depot.
Bill Pehlivanian, deputy program manager for the Defense Department's Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives (ACWA), delivered that news during a Tuesday meeting of the Chemical Destruction Citizens Advisory Board at Eastern Kentucky University.
The military has concluded that it can save up to $150 million annually by shipping chemically neutralized nerve agent to another site for secondary treatment, Pehlivanian said.
That news comes on the heals of a late November announcement by the Pentagon that the military will recommend to Congress a delay in the program that would save money each year but end up costing at least 30 percent more by extending the life of the project by eight years or more.
"That sounds penny wise and pound foolish to me," said CDCAB member Doug Hindman of Berea.
Because the project was determined on Oct. 6 to exceed its original cost estimates by more than 20 percent, the Pentagon was required by the Nunn-McCurdy Act to review program costs and seek reductions, Pehlivanian said.
Pehlivanian's boss, ACWA program manager Mike Parker, warned CDCAB members at their September meeting that the program could face the mandatory cost review.
The most recent Pentagon recommendation will go to the new session of Congress on Jan. 12.
The $150 million in annual savings the military hopes to realize from off-site SCWO is about how much it planned to spend annually on its destruction projects at depots in Richmond and Pueblo, Colo.
Rather than burn them in an incinerator, as was done at other storage sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon, Utah and on Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean, the chemical agents stored at the depot south of Richmond and near Pueblo, will be mixed with sodium hydroxide, commonly known as "caustic lye."
The resulting solution is no longer a chemical weapon, but it remains highly corrosive. Combining it with water under intense heat and pressure -- super critical water oxidation -- will reduce it to ordinary "industrial waste."
On-site SCWO on a "production basis" was to be done for the first time at Blue Grass Army Depot.
Before revealing any proposed off-site location for SCWO, the Army wants to gauge local sentiment regarding shipment of the "hydrolosate" that results from neutralization, Pehlivanian said.
"How can we express an opinion on off-site SCWO if we don’Äôt know where it will take place?" asked Hindman. "We need to know where (the hydrolosate) is going and how it's going to get there."
Carl Richards, director of the Madison County Emergency Management Agency, asked about the results of a consultant's study of on-site SCWO's feasibility.
"We've heard lots of stories, but we've been given no facts," Richards said.
Pehlivanian promised that the study by the Mitretek consulting firm would be available "next month."
CDCAB member Robert Miller said he believed the Army's decision to delay the project was retaliation for Madison County's and Pueblo's instance on chemical neutralization rather than incineration.
CDCAB co-chair Craig Williams was less suspicious of the military's motives.
Lowering the project's priority was a result, in part, of its being administered as "an acquisition program," Williams said.
"Acquisition people are used to acquiring things," he said. "A program that results in empty storage igloos doesn't appeal to them."
While upset at the prospect of a lengthy delay in the program in addition to off-site SCWO, Williams remained optimistic Tuesday.
"We need to generate the same effort that got us through the last funding crisis," Williams said.
CDCAB members and other community leaders, with the help of Sen. Mitch McConnell, succeeded this year in reversing a 2005 Pentagon decision to reduce funding for the chemical weapons destruction program.
Williams recommended that attention be focused on trying to influence Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England rather than on members of the new Congress. "The administrative process is less complicated and less lengthy than attempting to get funding legislation through Congress," he said.
While a new secretary of defense, Robert Gates, has been confirmed by Congress, Williams said that Gates will likely concentrate on the war in Iraq and the war on terror. "I'm told that he will delegate other matters, such as chemical weapons destruction, to his subordinates," Williams said.
"We need to work on persuading Mr. England to change the Army's position."
Opposition to the delay should highlight the increased long-term cost of delay as well as safety concerns, Williams said.
CDCAB members did hear some good news Tuesday.
Lt. Col. Tom Closs, commander of chemical activities at Blue Grass Army Depot (BGAD) reported that all deteriorating pallets supporting stacks of chemical weapons in the storage igloos had been replaced "without incidence" over the summer. The Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection has allowed the depot to open ventilators on the igloos, which should result in less moisture accumulation, he said.
As the design of the chemical weapons destruction plant has matured, the process has been streamlined, said Tom Kurkjy, environmental manager for Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass, the chemical weapons destruction contractor at BGAD.
Joe Nemec, Bechtel National Inc.'s operations manager for chemical demilitarization, reported that 1,235 work days had been completed at the weapon’Äôs destruction plant site without a "lost time" accident.
While three "reportable" incidents had occurred, only one required more than first aid on site, Nemec said.
The next CDCAB meeting will be March 13.
Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.