Handling unsafe; robot to set up Camp Minden remote ignition
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CAMP MINDEN - If the air is calm Monday morning, the Louisiana National Guard will use a robot to open a bunker door at Camp Minden and set up remote ignition of 820 pounds of an unstable, fast-burning chemical compound stored there.
It's by far the smallest amount of "clean-burning igniter" remaining after a bunker of it exploded Sept. 29.
Officials say a Defense Department team found that the three remaining bunkers of igniter are too dangerous to handle but should be quickly destroyed.
A magazine holding 114,000 pounds of igniter is scheduled for burning Saturday, with Oct. 29 for one holding 84,000 pounds of igniter and 40,000 pounds of M6 artillery propellant.
A bankrupt company abandoned 160 tons of igniter and 7,800 tons of M6 at Camp Minden in 2013.