Recommendations for the Disposal of Chemical Agents and Munitions (1994) / Chapter Skim
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The uNitary Chemical Agent and Munitions Stockpile
The uNitary Chemical Agent and Munitions Stockpile
Pages 34-51
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From page 34... ...
The structures of these compounds axe shown ~ Chapter 3. Nerve agents are organophosphonate compounds that contain phosphorus double-bonded to an oxygen atom and single-bonded to a carbon atom.
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From page 35... ...
CONTAINERS AND MUNITIONS The stockpile of unitary chemical agents can be found In containers (venous bombs stored without explosives, aerial spray tanks, and ton containers) and munitions (land mines, M55 rockets, artillery projectiles, and mortar projectiles)
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From page 36... ...
36 Recommendations for Disposal AUXILIARY 8URSTER 7 BURSTPR 7 FUSE ~ ~ F1~7 n ~ NO=LE ld' PROPELLANT GRAIL SPRING 7 / r ~ ~ r~~,~ ' / ~ ma -- ~ ~ IGNITER ASSEMBLY ~ CHE.MtCAL FILLER \ ~ 8URSTER TUSK 800S ~ ER BURSTER PALLS _ ,_ AR~tlNG PLUG ~ / M^'N EXPLOSIVE \ ~ ~ r cH^RG~ I ~DY .' \~7 ] 7~ _~ : ~ = ~7 ~ ~7 - , , A ~ _ ~ r , ~ ~1 ~_~% = / ~ BURSTER WEi ~ \~ ADAPTER Pt ATE ~ VX BURSTER CHARGE FIGURE 2-1 M55 rocket arid M23 land mine.
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From page 37... ...
Bu_R -= ~ GB ~ BURR ~ FUSE ~ It h.~ 1~ PROJE==E 800Y BuRS~R MALL EDGIER agog ~ GO ~ BRAG \ PLuG 1S~ PROJe=~E IDLER ~ ]
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From page 38... ...
38 ~eco~d~do~ Ate Z~\po~; 800Y _ FIG LUGS SeRTS / am- `~_ -_~ rig F _ KING rig ~ ~ at- ~ ~\ -- - ~ S FUSE ILL / BURT ~ B^SE ~ GO MATE COKE -AGE ASSEMBLY RW^RO ^1R SCOOP _ SP`Y TANK _ NOSE PLUG ~ HARDBACK ASSe~BLY _ ~ ~ VX ,_ ~ ~ LOT CO4T^lNER Isles SPIT ~K BONNY ~ Vat IlGIJFuE 2~} Bonib, spray aura add 10n condoner.
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From page 39... ...
· ~ _ Pine Bluff \ Arsenal FID -C,TC HT - TC GO - R VX-R,M (12~0%) Lexingtom Blue Grass Army Depot H-P GB - P
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From page 40... ...
GB No No No Yes Weteye bombs GB No No No No Spray tanks VX No No No No Ton containers GB, VX, No No No No Gob, mustard, Lewisit~ a MSS rockets are processed in individual fiberglass shipping containers. b Fuse and land mines are stored together but not assembled.
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From page 41... ...
projectile X X MSS rocket X X X X X M23 land m~ne X X X X Spray tank X X Ton conta~ner X NOTE: APG, Aberdeen Prov~ng Ground, Md.; ANAD, Anniston Ar~ny Depot, Ala.; BAD, Blue Grass Army Depot, Ky.; NAAP, Newport Army Ammunition Plant, Ind.; PBA, Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark.; PUDA, Pueblo Depot Activity9 Colo.; TEAD, Tooele Depot3 Utah; and UMDA. Umatilla Denot Activi~v ~re a Smal1 guantities of Lew~site and tabun (GA)
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From page 42... ...
SOURCE: Information supplied by the Program Manager for Chemical Demilitarization at a meeting of the Committee on Alternative Chemical Demilitarization Technologies, March 9-10, 1992, National Academy of Sciences. The significance of these tables for selecting disposal technologies is that the storage sites are highly vaned, in that they range in size Tom Tooele with 42.3 percent of the stockpile to Blue Grass with only I.6 percent; two sites have only liquid agent stored in ton containers Aberdeen with mustard and Newport with VX; Pueblo has only mustard in artillery projectiles; and all sites except Aberdeen, Newport, and Pueblo have all three agent types and a va}}et,, of munitions.
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From page 43... ...
; none was manufactured after 1968; the stockpile was deteriorating, and some munitions had begun to leak ., the stockpile was expensive to safeguard and maintain; and the timing of the disposal of the unitary chemical stockpile would likely be affected by a treaty then under consideration. The Committee on Dem~litanz~ng Chemical Munitions and Agents and its associated Stockpile Assessment Pane!
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From page 44... ...
in ~ is c)
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From page 45... ...
The committee notes that unexpectedly pressurized mustard projectiles were encountered in disposal operation at Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS)
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From page 46... ...
Thus it presents the potential for autoignition, although the actual critical condition is a function of grain geometry as well as diameter. A history of double base propellant autoignition has been corrected by the addition of a suitable stabilizer: "Early double base propellant formulations exhibited a tendency to undergo spontaneous combustion with unfortunate regularity; modern formulations, including the M28 propellant [used in the M55]
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From page 47... ...
Samples collected in 1980 were analyzed, but labeling errors prevented correlation with the collection site. Consequently, only analyses based upon the 1985 and 1989 samples have been used in stockpile assessment studies (Baronial, 1994~.
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From page 48... ...
A total of 1,302 samples were collected from two motors from each combination of storage site and propellant lot. At the time the SAIC report was prepared, testing on these samples was not complete' but enough data had been collected to show that the overall mean stabilizer content was 1.73 percent arid the lowest lot mean was 131 percent.
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From page 49... ...
~ HE went on, however, to develop a worst case analysis based on the minimum lot mean stabilizer levels noted above. The resulting estimate for the date when stabilizer levels would reach 0.5 percent came out to be 2008.
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From page 50... ...
The MITRE report emphasizes an unporta~nt point not touched on by either SAlC or OTT MITRE pointed out that "only one rocket needs to ignite or detonate to cause a serious accident. The reliance on lot segment sampling to monitor stockpile safety is based on an assumption of ~ntra-Iot homogeneity." MITRE underlined the fact that data show differences as high as 0.4 percent stabilizer content within the same lot segments.
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From page 51... ...
This study should address all the issues raised by the studies summarized above and by this discussion, including ~ntralot and intragrain vanations; degradation kinetics; the effectiveness of both 2-NDPA and its daughter products as stabilizers; the fate of the few hundred rockets manufactured with low stabilizer levels; arid the autoign~tion characteristics of the MSS grain, given its actual configuration.
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