Idea to blow up weapons worries many

Local News

February 26, 2010

Ronica Shannon The Richmond Register Fri Feb 26, 2010, 08:16 PM EST

A recent report about the Army’s ideas of exploding some of the chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot and at a storage site in Colorado may have been “blown” out of proportion.

The proposed idea was written about in an Associated Press story printed in many publications, including the Richmond Register.

“The story could have left some misunderstanding as to what was being proposed for the disposal of a specific portion of the chemical weapons stored in Kentucky,” said Craig Williams, director of the Berea-based CWWG (Chemical Weapons Working Group).

The story appeared in the Feb. 20 edition of the Register titled “U.S. may explode depot weapons,” and caused great concern among citizens and former members of the U.S. military, Williams said.

“I’ve gotten many calls from people wanting further explanation about what exploding chemical weapons really means, but the most interesting response I’ve received is from different Gulf War veterans from around the country who read the story and were very concerned because of their experience in the first Gulf War where over 100,000 veterans were exposed to low levels of chemical warfare agent from the exploding of the Iraqi stockpile,” Williams said. “They had GB, mustard and other chemical weapons.”

The weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot contain mustard gas, along with VX and GB nerve agent.

“These veterans misunderstood and thought they were going to be blown up inside the igloo, or worse, outside, rather than inside an explosive containment vessel,” he said. “They were very relieved to hear that this wasn’t going to be an uncontrolled detonation.”

A limited number, if any, of the 101,764 weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot will be disposed of using explosive detonation technology, or EDT, he said. Only “problem” mustard rounds are being noted as needing EDT treatment.

Certain mustard rounds that already have leaked and been overpacked, referred to as “problem” rounds, would have to be manually dissembled.

“You have to send in people with ‘moon suits,’ crow bars, hammers and vice grips to try to pry these things apart,” Williams said. “It’s not responsible to put those workers at that kind of risk.”

The primary reason for considering EDT is because it has been discovered that some mustard rounds are virtually impossible to disassemble without sending workers in to dismantle them manually, he said.

However, Williams also wanted to clarify: “No chemical weapons will be exploded outside of vessel containment.”

There are four EDT’s being considered for use in association to the full-scale treatment facility: Explosive Destruction System, Transportable Detonation Chamber, Static Detonation Chamber and a Vacuum-Integrated Chamber.

“Each has a somewhat different design/process, but what they all have in common is that they destroy the agent via explosion in a vessel, which is steel, averaging four or more inches thick in order to withstand the explosion,” Williams said.

Local citizens advisory board members Doug Hindman, Madison Judge/Executive Kent Clark and Williams addressed a letter to ACWA (Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternative) project manager Kevin Flamm dated Dec. 14.

“We realize that no decision on the use of an EDT has yet been reached,” the letter reads. “At the same time, the Kentucky CAC/CDCAB (Citizens Advisory Commission/Chemical Destruction Citizens Advisory Board) and the EDT Working Group are quite concerned with the very limited time frame being proposed for input on the decision to deploy and EDT for periods between end of operations at the CMA (Chemical Materials Agency) sites and the beginning of operations at the ACWA sites.”

An organization known as OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) is putting pressure on the U.S. State Department, which has admitted that they’re not going to meet the extended 2012 deadline for 100 percent destruction of the US stockpile, pertaining to both the Kentucky and Colorado sites, Williams said.

This is what spawned the reconsideration of detonation by the U.S. Army, he said.

CAC/CDCAB members are reserving their endorsement of any EDT for application at (the Blue Grass Army Depot) until there is adequate demonstration in the U.S. of the technical capability and environmental compliance of any such chemical weapon disposal approach, the letter reads.

“The Kentucky CAC/CDCAB, along with the state and others, are reviewing all the available data and, since the incineration sites can’t handle these ‘problem’ rounds either, we’ll also have the benefit of data from years of these technologies being used in Alabama and Utah before we decide how to proceed,” Williams said.

CAC and CDCAB members have met with representatives from the National Research Council, and are planning to host public hearings to discuss the possibility of using EDT.

Dates, locations and times for these meetings have not been set as of yet.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 624-6608.

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