WASHINGTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Chemical weapon specialists at the National Research Council cautiously support a U.S. Army proposal to accelerate disposal of hundreds of pounds of mustard gas at Maryland's Aberdeen Proving Ground.
International treaties require the Army to destroy all its chemical weapons by 2007, and existing plans would neutralize more than 1,800 containers of mustard gas at Aberdeen before 2006.
Late last year, the service's chemical demilitarization program suggested speeding up the process to finish by the end of this year.
A panel of experts from the NRC's Committee on Review and Evaluation of the Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program reviewed the proposal. While some questions remain, the panel supports the idea of expediting the process, and said the underlying concept is sound.
"(The process has) been essentially proven from existing data," the panel's report said. "There appears to be little likelihood that the mustard agent will not be neutralized."
Mustard gas, first used in World War I and allegedly used as recently as the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, is generally despised as a particularly inhumane weapon. The compound will blister exposed skin, causing second- and even third-degree chemical burns. Inhaling mustard gas can destroy the membranes of the lungs, killing the victim, and the gas also can cause blindness.
The Army's original disposal plan called for constructing a controlled ventilation building to house automated systems for draining the gas containers. The mustard agent then would be neutralized with chemical reactions, and the resulting waste disposed of later.
The proposed changes include using an existing warehouse, as well as having people drain the containers with transfer systems proven in prior research. The panel noted the building change is not critical to overall safety, since mustard gas does not spread easily, and that in the event of a leak, the most dangerous doses of gas likely would stay inside the facility perimeter. The revisions left the building's level of air-quality monitoring the same as in the original plan, however.
"Additional monitors will provide a higher level of safety, since the building is less robust and has fewer levels ... to control contaminated air," the report said. "The Army should consider a means of providing more complete coverage."
Another area of panel concern is the proposal's lack of hazards analysis. The plan calls for the use of less than top-of-the-line commercial protective gear for some operations, the panel said.
"According to the Army, this ... apparent increase in risk (which may be small, but was not quantified) will be offset by the more rapid destruction of the agent stockpile and, presumably, a reduction in total risk over time," the report said.
Federal contracting rules are not conducive to the complex planning and coordination needs of the accelerated schedule, the panel said. To counteract this, the panel recommended the Army create a single team to control the entire process.
The military's desire to get rid of the mustard gas more rapidly is a very positive development, said Amy Smithson, director of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project at the Henry Stimson Center in Washington.
"I'm sure they've taken into consideration the need to do anything faster in the safest possible manner," Smithson told United Press International on Friday.
The NRC panel's findings are not the end of the approval process. The Army still has to meet the requirements of several federal laws, including the Clean Air Act, before it can proceed. The Army told the panel it expects to finish pilot studies by the end of this month to comply with the regulations.
