Residents living near the Pine Bluff Arsenal may hear explosions starting Monday as the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility demolishes the pollution abatement system. The community should not be alarmed, officials say.
The effort is a part of the closure procedures after completion of the final stockpiled chemical weapons disposal operations in November 2010.
Since then, the disposal facility has been decontaminated and agent-processing equipment dismantled in accordance with the site’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) permit to prepare for the current full-scale demolition. Closure operations will continue for approximately six months.
A specialty subcontractor will demolish the pollution abatement system structure under the direction of PBCDF Systems Contractor URS.
Chemical weapons disposal operations began at the Arsenal in March 2005 with the GB nerve-agent filled rockets. The second disposal campaign, VX nerve-agent filled rockets, ended February 2008; and the third disposal campaign, VX nerve-agent filled landmines, ended June 2008. Mustard agent-filled ton containers were the fourth and final disposal campaign. Ton-container disposal operations began in December 2008 and were completed in November 2010 beginning the closure status.