Investigators say Army methods to destroy chemical weapons at Tooele Army Depot and eight other bases appear safe - but may be much slower and more expensive than expected.
The General Accounting Office, a research arm of Congress, also says opposition in many states to such plants could prevent some from obtaining needed environmental permits.Concern about arms-incineration plants led Congress last year to delay construction of all stateside plants, except a $392 million facility at Tooele, which was well under way and is expected to be completed by summer. Forty-two percent of the nation's chemical arms are stored at Tooele.
Before building other plants, Congress ordered that tests of burn methods at a pilot plant at Johnston Atoll in the Pacific must be completed and those methods certified as safe. A report on possible use of alternative methods for arms destruction also must be finished. This is expected in December.
The GAO review of testing so far at Johnston Atoll concluded it has "generally operated safely within environmental rules and regulations" - but it did not evaluate ongoing final tests to see how well the facility operates on a full-production schedule.
The review said early trial burns showed no chemical agent was detected in the pollution abatement system exhaust stack and at least 99.99 percent of the agent was destroyed.
However, it said two possible accidents occurred with some release of the agent - but no one was hurt. In one, the Army said some nerve agent was released, but the amount was only 22 percent of the allowable release concentration.
The other release may have exceeded allowable concentrations by 19 percent. But another substance such as rocket fuel that was being burned may have triggered alarms in smokestacks. No nerve agent was being destroyed at that time.
The GAO said the plant has had numerous mechanical problems that have not allowed it to destroy arms as quickly as planned. The Army continues to base budgets and schedules on destruction goals it has been unable to meet, it said.
Therefore, the GAO said destruction will likely take years longer than planned and cost billions more unless problems are resolved.
The program has already had numerous delays and price increases. Congress first ordered all U.S. chemical arms to be destroyed by 1994. That deadline has been pushed back several times and is now 2004. The program was originally expected to cost $1.7 billion but grew to $8 billion in the latest estimate.
Adding to delays and overruns are public opposition and problems in obtaining environmental permits in many states such as Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Colorado.
Some groups in Utah have said such problems might make Tooele the home of all future chemical arms destruction and that arms from other plants could be shipped there.
The Army, however, has insisted it would oppose that and would face far more political problems and delays trying to transport the arms across various state lines than destroying them where they now are stored.