DEMIL TECHNOLOGY

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

PLASMA ARC TECHNOLOGY REPLACES OPEN BURNING/OPEN DETONATION

At the sprawling Hawthorne Ammunition Depot, Nevada, site of the U.S.
military's largest munitions demilitarization stockpile, the Army is
about to undertake the large-scale demilitarization of small caliber
pyrotechnic ordnance using a new technology, plasma arc thermal
treatment. Traditional technologies, such as open burning and open
detonation, produced toxic emissions and hazardous ash.

According to National Defense (April, 1998), Butte, Montana-based
MSE-Technology's Plasma Ordnance Demilitarization System (PODS) uses
electrically power plasma arc torches to deliver heat up to 20,000
degrees Fahrenheit, destroying the ordnance by maintaining the waste
residue in a molten bath of at least 3,000 degrees.

National Defense reports, "This approach to demilitarization will enable
the Army to reduce pyrotechnic, training, and munitions devices
containing small amounts of energetic materials to a benign,
non-leachable slag product. The organic content of the munitions will be
converted to an environmentally safe offgas.... Plasma arc will allow
for demilitarization without the environmental issues associated with
conventional incineration methods, open burning, or open detonation."

Given the major scientific effort that the Army has made to justify open
burning and detonation, I am impressed that the Army has invested in an
innovative treatment technology. To earn public acceptance - and
national regulator endorsement - the Army should go a step further:
Involve outsiders (with appropriate technical assistance) in the design,
operation, and analysis of technology tests. Weapons demilitarization is
historically an extremely controversial area. It will take some effort
to ensure that new approaches meet the public's concerns.

Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight (AKA SFSU
CAREER/PRO)
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org