Munitions Assessment Review Board MARB

Both the Munitions Assessment Review Board (MARB) and the author misidentified one type of shell found in the pits. Because the PINS instrument correctly read sihcon dioxide as part of the contents, we believed that those shells were practice rounds filled with sand. It now appears that they were chemical shells filled with Kieselgur, a substance intended to keep the gas closer to the ground and make it more persistent. Whatever gas they were already filled with had either leaked or was one of the many odd ones not recognized by the PINS, which only identified six common chemical agents. This lapse underscores the need to spend a year or more studying the history of a site, and the general military developments which occurred during the site s operation. 

Before any of the munitions are delivered to the facility, they will have been previously assessed by the portable isotopic neutron spectroscopy (PINS) technique, x-rayed where appropriate, and the results reviewed by the Munitions Assessment and Review Board (MARB) to properly identify the contents. Data indicating the presence or absence of explosive and fuze components and the type of chemicals will be provided to the PBNSF operator for each item. The munitions will arrive at the facility overpacked individually in airtight containers. The following briefly describes the typical process flow for the categories of RCWM to be processed. 

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