OLD ARSENICAL MUNITIONS: METHODS FOR DESTRUCTION AND SITE CLEANUP

摘要

Some arsenical munitions are recovered entire. Others have spilled the arsenical agent owing to corrosion or external blows, and some arsenical agents were spilled on the earth in the course of filling, transporting or testing of munitions. These situations present problems of differing sorts.rnThe fact that several kinds of arsenic compounds are very poisonous complicates their disposal. Worst are probably arsine (ASH_3) and arsenic trioxide (AS_2O_3). Arsenate salts have lower acute toxicity but appear to be carcinogens. Some organic compounds of arsenic have remarkably low toxicity, as noted in the lecture by Cullen (this volume).rnThe final arsenic-containing products of arsenicals destruction must somehow be returned to the earth. Inasmuch as the arsenic used to manufacture arsenical agents came from the earth, well-considered land burial of arsenic compounds of low-toxicity can be viewed as restoration of the natural situation.