Published: March 04, 2008 08:28 am      

Richmond has last stockpile of M55 rockets

The Blue Grass Army Depot is now home to the nation’s last remaining stockpile of nerve-agent-filled M55 rockets.

Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark., destroyed its last M55 rocket Friday, Feb. 29, and Blue Grass has a destruction deadline of 2017.

“By destroying the last M55 rocket at Pine Bluff, CMA (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency) continues to do its part to improve the safety of those living near our stockpiles,” said CMA Director Conrad Whyne. “We have reduced the chemical storage risk for the communities around our sites as well as the risk to our workers who are charged with destroying some of the most dangerous weapons from our past.

The rockets are more dangerous in storage than other munitions because of their contents, said Greg Mahall, CMA public affairs officer.

Each one contains explosives, a propellant motor and a warhead filled with 10 pounds of nerve agent, either GB or VX.

The rockets were created in the 1950s and more than 400,000 were produced in the U.S. between 1961 and 1965.

The rockets’ highly explosive contents meant that the CMA would be responsible for overseeing their storage and destruction.

The CMA already has destroyed the M55 rockets stockpiled at Johnston Island in the South Pacific; Tooele, Utah; Umatilla, Ore.; and Anniston, Ala.

“With both the GB and VX rockets destroyed, the risk to the community has been reduced by 97 percent,” said Lt. Col. Clifton Johnston, commander at the Pine Bluff facility.

The 2008 fiscal year Department of Defense (DOD) Appropriations Act required the DOD to dispose of the entire U.S. chemical weapon stockpile by 2017.

Funding cuts, freezes and other delays have plagued the depot’s weapons destruction mission for years, pushing the deadline possibly to 2023.

The result of the provision was two-fold in that the DOD was legally obligated to complete disposal by 2017 and had to obtain the appropriate amount of funding to meet the deadline.

Construction of the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant is rapidly progressing.

The 69,000-square-foot facility will be used to destroy the 523 tons of chemical agent (GB and VX nerve agents) that has been stored inside rockets and artillery projectiles since the early 1940s.

The facility will include: a 28,000-square-foot maintenance building; a 23,000-square-foot, a two-story modular office building; a 1,400-square-foot access control building; and a 1,700-square-foot badging (check-in) facility; underground utilities, including storm water drainage, sanitary sewer, electrical duct banks, potable water and natural gas; and canopies over the area where vehicles will be inspected by security personnel.

The facility’s construction will cost about $2 billion, but using equipment from closing facilities is an option being sought that could save up to $450,000.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.