Incinerating
Chemical Weapons Said Safe
"Sure, and
if you believe this considering that there is virtually no
emergency response capability then you can swim in my backyard right
now.
It is about 15 degrees with snow flurries."
--doug rokke
AP, December 3, 2002
WASHINGTON (AP) -- America's arsenal of chemical weapons can be safely
incinerated at a few sites around the country, despite chemical releases
and
violations at the only two operational incinerators, according to a
report
Tuesday.
``The risk to the public and to the environment of continued storage
overwhelms the potential risk of processing and destruction of
stockpiled
chemical agent,'' said the report by the National Research Council, a
branch
of the National Academies of Science. ``The destruction of aging
chemical
munitions should proceed as quickly as possible.''
The council did not weigh in on whether incineration was preferable to
other
methods of neutralizing the chemical agents. Critics who favor
neutralization
said the report ignored important incidents and glossed over the dangers
of
incineration.
Under an international treaty, the United States agreed to dispose of
31,500
tons of deadly nerve agents and toxic blister agents by 2007, although
the
Defense Department has said it will likely miss that deadline by two to
three
years. The project is expected to cost $24 billion. About a quarter of
the
stockpile has been destroyed at weapons incinerators in Tooele, Utah,
and on
Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
``The technology is capable of doing the job if it's run correctly, and
there's no reason it cannot be run correctly if management puts its mind
to
it and trains its work force properly,'' said Charles Kolb, chairman of
the
committee.
The council report identified 40 cases where chemical agents leaked into
areas where it was not supposed to have been and three where it escaped
from
an incinerator building. But it said amounts that escaped were too small
to
threaten the public.
``There will be future `chemical events,' and serious consequences to
both
plant personnel and surrounding communities cannot be ruled out,'' the
report
said. It also said, however, ``The major hazard to the surrounding
communities arises from potential releases of agent from stockpile
storage
areas, not the demilitarization facilities.''
Many of the munitions and rockets that hold the chemical agents are
aging and
leaking, and the report said a deliberate detonation of the stored
chemicals
could spread a large amount of agent into the atmosphere.
The National Academies of Science is a private, nonprofit entity that
provides scientific guidance to the government. The study was financed
by the Defense Department and requested by former Rep. Bob Riley,
R-Ala., the
state's governor-elect.
Craig Williams, director of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working
Group, which favors chemical neutralization to incineration, said the
report
ignored thousands of pages his group submitted to document incinerator
problems and glossed over worries voiced by local officials and
complaints by
whistle-blowers.
"For anyone to accept this report as either accurate or objective would
be a
mistake,'' Williams said. "Unfortunately, it is the citizens living near
the
incinerators who will bear the consequences of its failures.''
Kolb said the group considered the information submitted by Williams'
group,
but it was largely repetitive or undocumented hearsay.
The Johnston Atoll incinerator has completed burning the weapons and is
being decommissioned. The Tooele incinerator has finished burning
its stockpile of the nerve agent sarin and is preparing to burn VX,
a more toxic nerve agent.
Incinerators in Anniston, Ala.; Pine Bluff, Ark.; and Umatilla, Ore.,
are
scheduled to begin operations in the coming months. Chemical agents in
Newport, Ind.; Aberdeen, Md.; Pueblo, Colo.; and Bluegrass, Ky., are to
be
neutralized using chemicals.
On the Net: National Academies:
http://www.nationalacademies.org
Chemical Weapons Working Group:
http://www.cwwg.org
