The United States could eliminate recovered chemical weapons at an increased pace with technologies used by other countries, the National Research Council said in a report last week (see GSN, Aug. 25).
The study commissioned by the U.S. Army found that the other systems are equally safe and potentially better for the environment than technology used here, the Associated Press reported.
"If the U.S. Department of Defense decides to expedite the destruction of the large amount of chemical weapons still buried in many parts of the country, using one of these technologies will be essential," Richard Ayen, who led the committee that conducted the study, said in a press release.
The United States now uses to Explosive Destruction System to eliminate chemical munitions that are found outside of weapons stockpiles.
The committee recommended three technologies for consideration, AP reported. They are:
--The Controlled Detonation Chamber, which uses explosives to detonate munitions within a sealed chamber. The system was developed by DeMil International of Alabama and has been used in Europe;
--The similar Detonation of Ammunition in a Vacuum-Integrated Chamber system, produced in Japan by Kobe Steel; and
--The system prepared by Dynasafe of Sweden, which detonates weapons inside a kiln at temperatures of 720 to 1,080 degrees Fahrenheit (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 16).
The CDC system is able to eliminate more than 10 times the number of weapons at once than the Explosive Destruction System, while producing little to no waste. The other technologies also have benefits over the system now in use, the press release states.
The report calls for the Army to assess the performance, safety and expense of the systems to find which would provide the best service (National Academies release, Nov. 16).
The Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas, which uses the Explosive Destruction System to eliminate mustard agent mortar rounds and other nonstockpile weapons, has no plans to use one of the other technologies, Stephens Media reported.
"I would emphasize we have successfully deployed the EDS there and it's going very well," said Army spokeswoman Karen Drewen.
The greatest number of nonstockpile weapons are found in Alabama, Colorado, Maryland and Utah, Stephens reported (Aaron Sadler, Stephens Media, Nov. 17).