THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605040386
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 51 lines
More than 30,000 tons of chemical warfare agents stored in eight states are ``reasonably stable,'' but leakages of nerve gas from M55 rockets in Alabama and Utah are a growing worry, the Pentagon said Friday.
In a report assessing the condition of the chemical weapons stockpile, the Pentagon said no one is in immediate danger. But it said risks will increase if there are further delays in the Army's $12 billion incineration program.
The Army plans to build incinerators at each of the eight chemical storage sites. A pilot plant on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean already has destroyed tons of chemicals, including some M55 rockets found to be leaking.
The Army has faced numerous delays in beginning operation of an incinerator at Tooele Army Depot in Utah, southwest of Salt Lake City. It now expects to start operating this summer. The next one will be built at Anniston, Ala. Most of the leaking M55 rockets are stored at Tooele and Anniston.
``The uncertainty associated with the stability of leaking M55 rockets requires immediate attention,'' the report said.
The Army has developed a contingency plan if the stored rockets are found unsafe. The plan is to separate the chemical warhead from the rocket propellant section - a slow process the Army so far has considered to be unnecessary.
The rockets, which contain about 2,000 tons of sarin gas and the nerve agent VX, are stored in smaller numbers at Richmond, Ky.; Hermiston, Ore., and Pine Bluff, Ark.
The other chemical weapons storage sites are at Edgewood, Md.; Newport, Ind., and Pueblo, Colo.
Overall, the Army has found about 3,650 leaking items - rockets, shells and bulk containers - in the remaining stockpile of 3.3 million items, according to the report released Friday. M55 rockets account for about one-third of the leaking items. Leaking also is a problem with 155mm projectiles and some bulk containers found to have corroded valves.
``In general, the stockpile is considered stable,'' the report said. Even so, the Army's chemical disposal manager is making new risk assessments for each of the eight storage sites.
The Army said the M55 rockets and other chemical weapons can be safely stored during the course of the incineration program, which is scheduled to be completed in 2004. The Army originally had expected to be rid of the weapons by 1994. by CNB