Friday, July 27, 2007 8:49 AM CDT

Group: Arsenal Can’t Handle Job

By Aaron Sadler

Stephens Washington Bureau • Asadler@stephensmedia.com

WASHINGTON -- Experts assembled by the National Academies of Science recommended on Thursday that the Army can more efficiently complete the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile by disposing of some waste away from sites like the Pine Bluff Arsenal.

The study of the chemical weapons disposal at the Arsenal and four other locations found the sites were incapable of handling "secondary wastes" like scrap metal, wooden crates or pallets and protective gear.

An Army-commissioned report from a National Research Council found that disposing of waste off-site would "dramatically improve closure operations" and said off-site disposal should be used as much as possible.

The Pine Bluff Arsenal this year completed destruction of sarin-filled GB munitions. Disposal of rockets containing the VX nerve agent will begin later this year, said an arsenal spokeswoman.

The study concluded that the Army does not have enough on-site capacity to treat the secondary wastes after a review of waste disposal practices at Pine Bluff and facilities in Anniston, Ala., Umatilla, Ore., and Tooele, Utah.

The study recommended that commercially operated hazardous waste facilities have more capacity to treat and dispose materials than do the federal sites.

Karen Drewen, spokeswoman for Army's Chemical Materials Agency, said each of the four weapons disposal sites, including Pine Bluff, handles secondary waste differently.

But uniformly allowing the shipment of such waste has advantages, she said.

"If you're destroying chemical agents and concurrently getting rid of the secondary waste, that’s speeding up the process," Drewen said, opposed to waiting until weapons destruction is finished before disposing of secondary waste.

The Army is considering the committee's findings and has not decided whether to implement the recommendations, she added.

At Pine Bluff, metal casings that stored chemical agents are cleaned in furnaces and sent for recycling; some items are destroyed in other chambers of the weapons incinerator; uncontaminated wood pallets are shredded or chipped and used for mulch.