ARSENAL: FINAL DISPOSAL NEARS

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

The fourth and final disposal campaign of stockpiled chemical weapons at the Pine Bluff Arsenal may begin as early as December.

The destruction on an undisclosed number of one-ton containers of mustard agent, originally scheduled to begin in early 2009, will likely start sooner due to an efficient transition process between disposal campaigns, said Raini Brunson, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency public affairs officer.

Brunson said danger caused by the handling and incineration of mustard is far less than that associated with previous campaigns since the chemical is a contact agent that settles on the ground.

“The risk is lower also because the mustard is in containers rather than in rockets with an energetic where it could ignite,” Brunson said.

The mustard incineration will follow the June completion of a campaign by which more than 9,000 VX (nerve agent) landmines were destroyed. Previous campaigns included the disposal of nearly 20,000 VX rockets and more than 90,000 GB (nerve agent) rockets.

“The people in this community really and truly feel that the arsenal goes well beyond what they have to do to be safe. We know their safety record and we put a lot of faith in them,” White Hall Mayor James “Jitters” Morgan said.

Employees of URS, formerly Washington Group, have been engaged since June in preparing the facility for the new campaign.

“They are doing a lot of work on the plant. They had to re-brick the liquid incinerator, do maintenance of the furnaces and they converted monitoring systems to detect different chemicals,” Brunson said.

Workers continue to undergo specialized training and the readiness of equipment and employees will be thoroughly evaluated prior to the campaign’s start, she said.

The ton containers will be punched and the contents will empty into a liquid incinerator. The containers will then pass through a furnace to burn away chemical residue, Brunson said.

Chemical weapon storage at the arsenal began in 1945 and the disposal operations began in March 2005.