Other methods to destroy arms studied

Two alternatives to incineration might work in destroying chemical weapons stored at the Army's Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, a report by the National Academy of Sciences concludes.

The report is longer of two released Tuesday by the academy.

The shorter, discussed in Wednesday's Deseret News, concluded that changes in procedure might be needed if the mustard agent at Pueblo is incinerated. Incineration is the planned method of disposal for more than 6,000 tons of the deadly agent stored at Deseret Chemical Depot near Stockton, Tooele County.

The second report, "Analysis of Engineering Design Studies for Demilitarization of Assembled Chemical Weapons at Pueblo Chemical Depot," concludes that two alternatives to burning might work. They are:

• An alternative called the WHEAT, for water hydrolysis of explosives and agent technology. It would neutralize the explosives and mustard agent in several stages, one of which uses aerobic microorganisms to consume organic compounds.

  Some testing was not completed in time to fully assess the technology, says the report. But with that caveat in mind, it makes the finding that the WHEAT process "can provide an effective and safe means of destruction for the assembled chemical weapons stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.

  "However, some of the process steps remain to be demonstrated," it adds.

• The General Atomics technology package, which the report also says could be effective and safe. This would involve treating munitions with freezing, electricity, shredding and a technique called supercritical water oxidation.

"However, to achieve prolonged operability of the supercritical water oxidation . . . system as designed will require extensive maintenance," the report adds.

Mickey Morales, spokesman for the Defense Department's Program Manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Assessment, said officials have not yet decided which technology to use at Pueblo Chemical Depot. The stockpile of mustard agent weapons is located about 15 miles east of Pueblo, Colo.

"There's an entire Pentagon group that's meeting to review the program and make a decision at the Department of Defense level," with public input, he said. The group will review data about competing technologies before deciding which one to use to destroy the chemical weapons at Pueblo.