The U.S. Army plans to dispose of thousands of gallons of chemical weapon precursor components currently stored at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas using warm water, the Pine Bluff Commercial reported today (see GSN, Dec. 10, 2002).

Larry Friedman, binary project manager for nonstockpile chemical material, outlined plans to destroy the arsenal’s quantities of methylphosphonyl diflouride (DF) and diisopropylaminoethyl methyl phosphonite (QL) for area residents at a public meeting yesterday.  DF and QL are precursor chemicals that form the nerve agents GB and VX, respectively, when mixed with other chemicals, according to the Commercial. 

The Pine Bluff Arsenal currently stores 50,000 canisters of DF and 300 55-gallon drums of DF and QL, of which 293 contain QL, according to Friedman.  Both chemical are precursors: alone neither is a weapon, but combined they turn deadly. 

The Army will use a process called hydrolysis to dispose of the chemicals, which involves mixing them with warm water to a concentration of less than 1,000 parts per million.  Once that is accomplished, the mixture will then be taken to an off-site commercial disposal facility where it will be further diluted.

The current destruction schedule calls for the chemicals to be destroyed by late 2005, Friedman said.  The DF stockpiles will be destroyed first in a process expected to last about eight weeks.  The QL stockpiles will then be destroyed during a two-week period (Scott Loftis, Pine Bluff Commercial, May 21).

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