Leak scare resolved at Army incinerator

By CHARLES SEABROOK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/05/04

The Army resumed destruction of chemical weapons on Thursday at its Alabama incinerator, which had been shut down for nearly a day when a monitor detected slight traces of deadly sarin nerve agent inside a main building.
 
A minute amount of sarin apparently escaped into a corridor from an airlock used by maintenance workers to move from a contaminated area to a decontaminated area, said Bob Love, project manager for Westinghouse, which operates the incineration facility for the Army near Anniston.
 
The sarin, so toxic that just a drop can kill, apparently came from contaminated protective clothing worn by two workers who were doing routine maintenance work Wednesday afternoon in preparation for destroying rockets filled with gelled or crystallized GB nerve agent, also known as sarin.
 
When the alarm sounded at 5:39 p.m. on Wednesday, workers put on protective masks and evacuated the corridor located inside the incinerator building that houses the three furnaces.
 
No one was injured. The two workers were checked out at a clinic as a precaution, and returned to work a few hours after the incident, Love said.
 
About 2,254 tons of Cold War-era chemical weapons were stored at the Anniston Army Depot for more than 40 years in earth-covered, concrete reinforced bunkers. The incinerator so far has destroyed 17,919 rockets and 19,437 gallons of liquid GB since it begain operations last year.
 
Mike Abrams, spokesman for the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, said no chemical left the building and there was never a danger to the surrounding community. He said that although alarms have occasionally sounded at the site since it began burning weapons six months ago, Wednesday's incident made officials a little more edgy because of its location.