Chemical weapons detection devices get smaller
An expanded Web version of segments seen on CNN
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January 1, 1997
Web posted at: 4:30 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Ann Kellan
LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico (CNN) -- International inspectors will
soon be out among the world's stockpiles of weapons, looking
for signs of chemical weapons. But the laptop computer and
sensor they'll be carrying are a far cry from the bulky
detection devices used during the Persian Gulf War.
The Chemical Weapons Convention -- a 1991 treaty that bans
the purchase, development, production, stockpiling, transfer
and use of chemical weapons -- goes into effect in four
months without the ratification of either the United States
or Russia. And researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory
in New Mexico have made the inspection job easier.
The acoustic resonance device weighs just four and a half
pounds. Magnets attach the chemical detector to a metal
shell, and sound waves displayed on the computer monitor tell
whether a solid or a liquid is inside.
The laboratory's Octavio Vela explains that the machine
registers the type of resonance from inside a missile shell
after it has been vibrated.
"From that we can develop a signature for that particular
munition," he says.
Each chemical has a unique pattern and can be graphed, he
explains. (26 sec. /288K AIFF or WAV sound)
The computer itself, Vela says, is off-the-shelf hardware. It
operates similar to a graphics tablet used by computer
artists -- the operator uses a pen to "record" the
information. That method of input was chosen, Vela says,
largely because the inspectors will often be wearing heavy
gloves and other protective clothing on the job. (25 sec. /288K AIFF or WAV sound)
And the entire package fits into an over-the-shoulder
carrying case.
Chemical Weapons
26 sec./1M QuickTime movie
The device is being developed at a time when international
tensions over chemical weapons are high. Dozens of nations
are secretly developing the deadly inexpensive weapons. And
those clandestine efforts are hard to detect.
"Rogue nations are building large chemical complexes that can
masquerade as fertilizer or pesticide plants," said Walter
Kirchner of the Los Alamos lab.
Fear of the weapons has remained high ever since their first
widespread use in the trenches of World War I.
The discovery and destruction of Iraq's stockpile of mustard
and sarin gas in 1992 renewed fears that such weapons could
be used in warfare, and their use in a terrorist attack
against civilians is also a major concern.
Such an attack occurred in 1995, when deadly sarin
gas filled the corridors of Tokyo's subway, killing 12 and
injuring 6,000.
Terrorism, of course, is not the only fear -- much of the
world's cache of chemical weapons is corroding, making
accidental release of the chemicals a danger.
Even with the Chemical Weapons Convention, it will be tough
to find hidden chemical stockpiles. But Los Alamos' new
detector can help. Developement of the ARS system was funded by the Defense Special Weapons Agency.
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