Nerve agent disposal may take longer

Published Oct. 23, 2001

Karen Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON - Disposing of gelled nerve agent is a more complicated process than just draining off the liquid from the rockets at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

And that's just one of the reasons depot officials have moved the completion date for disposing of the mustard, sarin and other nerve agents from 2006 to late 2008, said Don Barclay, site project manager for the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal facility.

Speaking before the Hermiston City Council on Monday, Barclay told council members that Army officials expect to find a small number of rockets with gelled nerve agent. Aging causes the agent to congeal.

"We believe a small quantity of rockets could be gelling. That slows down the draining process," Barclay said.

The M55 rockets stored at the Umatilla site pose the greatest risk to the community and are some of the most unstable components of nerve agent, Barclay noted.

He said that although the completion date for the disposal had been moved back by a couple of years, the start date remains the same.

"Our start date for disposing of the agents is still February 2003," Barclay said.

The rockets account for 99 percent of the risk to public safety, Barclay said.

But, he said, "We hope to have eliminated that risk in the first 30 months of the campaign."

Barclay said it isn't known yet how much of the nerve agents in the rockets actually have begun to solidify. But he said he believed, based on manufacturing data, that at least one lot of rockets at the site has congealing nerve agent.

Typically, the liquid nerve agent is drained from the rocket and burned in a separate furnace than the projectile. But when the agent congeals, there is always some that remains inside the rocket. In that situation, the rocket and agent are burned together in a slower process, Barclay said.

Council members asked Barclay if a recent Multnomah Circuit Court judge's ruling that grants anti-incinerator groups the right to grill the Department of Environmental Quality about its decision to grant the Army burn permits would create more of a slowdown in the Army's schedule.

"I'm not a lawyer," Barclay said. "We'll wait and see how that turns out. I wouldn't even want to project."

In other business:

Council members reached a tentative agreement with Pacific Western Homes regarding the development of Townsend Road. City Manager Ed Brookshier said the agreement would allow for 625 tons of base rock to be placed on the roadway, but that the city would cover part of that cost. Brookshier said he expected the cost may be $4,000 to $6,000.

 

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