Sarin-leaking bomb sealed in container

This story was published Fri, Dec 19, 2003

By Kathleen Gilstrap
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON -- The apparent source of leaking GB sarin vapor in a storage unit at the Umatilla Chemical Depot has been sealed in a steel container and moved to another location.

Monitoring equipment detected a low-level vapor release Wednesday as workers at the depot were moving a 750-pound bomb to another bunker, where weapons leaking sarin are stored separately.

The bomb also is believed to be the cause of a vapor leak caught by monitors Oct. 1 inside the bunker.

Workers were trying to isolate the cause of that leak when a low reading of nerve agent was detected Dec. 8 outside the bunker.

During that incident, operations at the depot were stopped, and employees were told to wear filtration masks and stay in their workplaces for a short time. Mary Alice Binder, spokeswoman for the depot, said the vapor might have been on the protective clothing worn by two workers as they left the bunker.

On Wednesday, workers had isolated the leaking bomb, placed it in the new container and were moving it in a sealed transport truck when the vapor was detected. Binder said the workers turned on a filtering system inside the truck to clear the vapor, then went in and adjusted the seals on the container in which the bomb was packaged.

No other vapor release was detected, and there was no threat to the public or the environment, Binder said.

The depot, 30 miles south of the Tri-Cities, stores 220,604 munitions and containers filled with 7.4 million pounds of deadly nerve and mustard agents. The chemicals are set for incineration, perhaps as early as this year.

Mustard agents stored at the depot date back to World War II. All the nerve agents were brought to the depot for storage between 1962 and 1969.

"While we're comfortable with the safety of the stockpile, it is aging. And it is in the best interests of the community to destroy it as soon as we can," Binder said.

Binder said vapor leaks have been detected 150 times inside the storage igloos and outside.

"Overall, when you look at the number of times it's been detected and the number of items stored here, it's low," Binder said.

Karyn Jones, a representative of GASP, a Hermiston group that opposes incineration of the stockpile, said her group is not concerned about the recent vapor leaks. Jones said the group doesn't buy into a theory that the chemicals could somehow spontaneously ignite. She said safer and faster methods could be used to destroy the chemicals.

"Their technology (incineration) has held up the process," Jones said. "It doesn't work very well."

n Reporter Kathleen Gilstrap can be reached at the Herald's Oregon bureau at 541-567-4459 or via e-mail at kgilstrap@tri-cityherald.com.

 

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