ROCKET FUEL DISPOSAL NEARS END; ONLY 10 OF 400 CYLINDERS LEFT OF PENTABORANE AT EDWARDS LAB.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer The Air Force is nearing the end of a five-year effort to dispose of To determine the fate of; to exercise the power of control over; to fix the condition, application, employment, etc. of; to direct or assign for a use. See also: Dispose 400 canisters of a highly volatile rocket fuel stored at Edwards for more than 30 years. The Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate, nicknamed the rocket lab, is down to 10 500-pound cylinders of pentaborane, a fuel that ignites spontaneously if exposed to air warmer than 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The lab had a stockpile of 400 cylinders. ``All the figures I've seen show it's under $3 million,'' rocket lab spokesman Ranney Adams said of the disposal effort. ``That's a relative bargain.'' The last cylinders were scheduled to be destroyed Wednesday, but the weather conditions were not right. The fuel is being destroyed only when the wind is blowing in a northeast-to-southeast direction, at speeds of 5 mph to 15 mph, so the cloud will be blown into open desert, officials said. The Air Force decided to destroy the fuel after inspectors found in 1994 and 1995 that 10 of the 400 canisters, each holding 500 pounds, were in weakened condition. They also found that 100 cylinders had walls thinner than required for transportation on public highways. The pentaborane cylinders are placed on 2,500-square-foot pads - five cylinders to a pad - at the rocket lab, which is across Rogers Dry Lake east of the main base. The cylinders are opened with an explosive charge Noun 1. explosive charge - a quantity of explosive to be set off at one time; "this cartridge has a powder charge of 50 grains" burster, bursting charge, charge , and the heat from the explosion and the air temperature ignites the fuel. When ignited, the chemical burns at 4,300 degrees, nearly twice the temperature needed to melt ordinary steel. The result is a white cloud White Cloud: see Waubeshiek. white cloud indicates high achievement. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 350] See : Success , which looks like steam, that consists of boric bo·ric also bo·rac·ic adj. Of, relating to, derived from, or containing boron. boric Adjective of or containing boron Adj. 1. oxide, boric acid boric acid, any one of the three chemical compounds, orthoboric (or boracic) acid, metaboric acid, and tetraboric (or pyroboric) acid; the term often refers simply to orthoboric acid. The acids may be thought of as hydrates of boric oxide, B2O3. and water vapor. Although the heat is searing sear 1 v. seared, sear·ing, sears v.tr. 1. To char, scorch, or burn the surface of with or as if with a hot instrument. See Synonyms at burn1. 2. , officials say the vapor itself is relatively benign, and the cloud disperses over open desert. Pentaborane first was produced commercially in the 1950s as a potential aviation fuel. Its potential as a high-energy liquid rocket A liquid rocket is a rocket with an engine that uses propellants in liquid form. Liquids are desirable because their reasonably high density allows the volume and hence the mass of the tankage to be relatively low, resulting in a high mass ratio. fuel led to research at the rocket lab. But the fuel never lived up to its potential, and tests stopped in the mid-1960s. The unused fuel was placed in storage. |
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