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Incineration at Pine Bluff to Begin Today
Rockets containing the nerve agent sarin will be the first chemical weapons to be destroyed at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas because they pose the greatest threat to nearby residents, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 23). Thirty M55 rockets were moved from storage yesterday to the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, where incineration is set to begin today. “[Chemical] weapons usually have a metal casing, bursters and an agent, but the M55 also has a fuse, a motor and fins that can get it off the installation and into the community in the remote possibility of a disaster,” said Greg Mahall, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency. “It’s all about risk reduction. You want to reduce the risk they pose to the community first.” The rockets have been stored since the 1960s at the depot, which also contains rockets carrying VX nerve agent, VX land mines and ton containers of mustard agent. “The M55 rockets pose the greatest risk in storage, but everything is basically equal once it’s in the disposal facility,” Mahall said. “It’s unlikely that anything will happen to breech the arsenal area, but if that would happen, that would happen while the weapons are in storage and it would be contained if they’re in transport or in the disposal facility” (David Hammer, Associated Press, March 29).
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