Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility

Sites with a large number (that is, hundreds or thousands) of nonstockpile items were originally expected to be served by semipermanent treatment facilities, although a plan was implemented that replaced the Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility with multiple EDS units for the processing of hundreds of recovered munitions (see NRC, 2004). 

NRC. 2004. Assessment of the Army Plan for the Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility. Washington, D.C. The National Academies Press. 

Is the process scalable so that it can address small, medium, and large munition finds Yes. Three sizes appear to provide appropriate capability for small, medium, and large quantities. All are transportable to the site. Yes. There are two DAVINCH sizes available and multiple units can be deployed. Large size (70 tons) of smaller DAVINCH (DV45) may make it impractical for small quantity finds, however. Yes. Three detonation chamber sizes are available and several units can be used together to meet throughput requirements. The EDS seems appropriate for small or medium caches. At Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility, several EDSs could have destroyed ca. 1,000 munitions in an acceptable time period. 

PBNSF Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility VX a nerve agent... 

Evaluate mobile destruction systems and semi-permanenC facilities being used or considered by the Army s Non-stockpile product manager for the treatment of non-stockpile CWM and make recommendations on the systems and facilities that could be employed by the Army and their interrelationships. This analysis will specifically include consideration of issues and opportunities associated with the Explosive Destruction System (EDS), the Rapid Response System (RRS), the Munitions Assessment and Processing System (MAPS), the Pine Bluff Non-stockpile Facility (PBNSE), alternative treatments for neat chemicals, and selected aspects of the stockpile facilities. 

Facilities Non-stockpile facilities Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility (PBNSF) (in final design) Designed to use chemical neutrahzation and associated technologies to address the recovered non-stockpile items stored at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas... 

Unlike stockpile facilities, discussed next, no dedicated non-stockpile facilities have yet been completed. The PMNSCM plans to construct such facilities at two sites where large quantities of recovered chemical warfare material (RCWM) are stored the Munitions Assessment and Processing System (MAPS) at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Maryland, and the Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility (PBNSF) at Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA), Arkansas. 

Some 85 percent of all recovered NSCWM in the United States is stored at Pine Bluff Arsenal. The Army has designed the Pine Bluff Non-Stockpile Facility (PBNSF) to destroy the almost 70,000 items stored there, but the facility is not expected to be operational until 2006. As far as the committee can ascertain, the Army has not developed a realistic timetable for destruction of this quantity of NSCWM that is consistent with current treaty deadlines. The committee is concerned that without clear planning and extraordinary efforts, the 2007 treaty deadline will almost certainly not be met (see PBNSF discussion and Finding and Recommendation 2-2 in Chapter 2). 

The entire non-stockpile inventory of binary CWM components is stored in canisters and drnms at Pine Bluff Arsenal, a stockpile site. Options for treatment include destruction in the Pine Bluff Chemical Disposal Facility, direct destruction in a plasma arc system, or chemical neutralization followed by oxidative posttreatment of the neutralents. The high concentration of fluorine in the binary component DF raises concerns about corrosion in some treatment systems. 

Recommendation PMNSCM should develop a detailed, realistic timetable showing how the planned non-stockpile facilities at Pine Bluff Arsenal can achieve the throughput necessary to destroy the stored non-stockpile items by April 2007 and should communicate this timetable to all stakeholders (Recommendation 2-1). 

Pine Bluff. The incineration facility at Pine Bluff provides a technically feasible alternative for destruction of less than 10 percent of the 69,878 non-stockpile items stored there because its design does not include facilities for opening bulk containers of agent and CWM binary components (Appendix C). However, inclusion of such capability in the non-stockpile PBNSF would enable transfer of these liquid chemicals to vessels suitable as feed tanks for the PBCDF liquid incinerator. This modification, plus the addition of DF and QL monitoring systems at the Pine Bluff Chemical Disposal Facility (PBCDF), would allow incineration of the great majority of the PBA non-stockpile inventory. 

Public involvement activities (other than time scheduled for public review of the National Environmental Policy Act and permitting documents) are linked only to the pre-operational and operational phases rather than to the construction and design phases of the non-stockpile facility proposed for Pine Bluff, a sign that involvement comes only after critical technical decisions have been made. 

Of the 69,878 non-stockpile items at Pine Bluff Arsenal, the two GB-filled ton containers, possibly the nine M70A1 bombs, two chemical containers filled with HD and VX, and 5,814 mustard-filled CAIS could be processed in its stockpile facility. The remaining items are more suitable for processing in the PBNSE or in mobile systems such as the RRS or EDS. 

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