PBA to get above-ground shelters

Since operations for the U.S. Chemical Materials Agency Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project have wound down at Pine Bluff Arsenal, NSCMP has been slowly turning over certain pieces of their property back to the installation. One of the items being relinquished to PBA are the above-ground tornado shelters that were located at the ton container site.

Joe Daven, NSCMP project manager at Pine Bluff, said that when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) added more people to the TC project that is when the storm shelters were purchased and built. "We needed something that could hold 18 to 20 more people. We purchased three storm shelters," he said.

When the project concluded, Daven said that NSCMP contacted the Arsenal's Directorate of Public Works so the transfer of property of the shelters could occur. "At one time some of the powers that be thought they would eventually move these shelters to Blue Grass (Ky.). I talked with them and mapped out a scenario for them. It was going to be more costly to dig them up and move them to another location," he said. "I guess I communicated some common sense to them and they decided to let the Arsenal have them."

The storm shelters are being located to the Arsenal's Child, Youth and School Services Center. The shelters are expected to be moved during May. Two of the shelters hold 18 adults, and one holds 22 adults. These shelters, which are constructed by a shelter manufacturer, are designed to withstand high powered tornadic winds.

"The shelters are going to be located right behind our gym, so we will be able to evacuate our building and go right out to them. Currently during storms, we are taking our babies, toddlers and young children into below ground shelters," said Debbie Johnson, CYSS coordinator. "This is something we have been trying to get for CYSS since 2009. It has finally happened and it is awesome "These shelters are not really a hand-receipt item so we are just turning them over to the Arsenal as property," said Daven. "The paperwork has been started, and has been sent to the Arsenal's property book office."

When in full operations here at PBA, NSCMP provided centralized management and direction to the Department of Defense for the disposal of recovered chemical warfare materiel (RCWM) in a safe, environmentally sound and cost-effective manner in compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The project completed a number of chemical warfare disposal operations on the Arsenal, including the destruction of the largest recovered chemical warfare inventory in the nation and ton container decontamination mission.