Incineration Proceeds Slowly at Pine Bluff

The first two days of chemical weapons incineration at the Pine Bluff Arsenal proceeded more slowly than anticipated, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, March 30).

Six M55 rockets carrying the nerve agent sarin had been destroyed by Thursday, although officials had hoped to eliminate 30 in that time.

“It is important to understand that (operators) will employ slow and deliberate processing during the first several months,” said Randy Long, site project manager. “There will be days when no processing occurs so we can assess performance and conduct equipment maintenance.”

“This deliberately slow and limited startup will ensure the plant equipment and crew demonstrate the same proficiency in processing actual rockets as they did when processing thousands of practice rockets,” Long added (Associated Press, March 31).

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