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Investigators Find Possible Cause of Umatilla Fires
A U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency investigation has confirmed that nitroglycerine migrated in M55 rockets containing VX nerve agent stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon, the agency announced yesterday (see GSN, July 21). The agency said the nitroglycerine migration was the potential cause of fires that occurred while the weapons were being destroyed at the depot. Other preliminary data indicated the rockets were safe while being stored, transported and handled. Nitroglycerine shifted within all nine of the rockets tested, according to the CMA release. The rockets were shipped from Umatilla in mid-June and have undergone testing since their arrival at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. Tests on similar rockets from Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Arkansas, where additional fires occurred, are scheduled to begin soon. “I cannot stress enough that these are preliminary results. The jury is still out as we prepare to look at and contrast these test results with the Pine Bluff samples. At this point, we are dealing in conjecture. More samples will provide more insight but a progress update to our interested stakeholders is certainly warranted,” Gregory St. Pierre, the agency’s risk management director, said in the release (Army Chemical Materials Agency release, July 21). Authorities were still considering whether to cut M55 rockets stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky away from their warheads to prevent potential fires, the Associated Press reported. “No decisions have been made in terms of what to do in Kentucky," said Defense Department Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives spokeswoman Katherine DeWeese (Associated Press/WKTY, July 22).
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