Chemical-weapons destruction temporarily halts Two employees earlier walked into a waste-disposal
room The Associated Press September 16, 2004 The destruction of munitions
containing nerve and blister agents at the Umatilla Chemical Depot was suspended
Wednesday to determine how two workers accidentally walked into the room
where the chemical agents are stored.
Depot spokeswoman Mary Binder said that the workers were unharmed in the
Tuesday incident and that processing at the incinerator could resume today.
The chemical elements are being drained from weapons and will be burned
when a sufficient quantity has been collected in tanks. The weapons themselves
also are burned at high temperatures to destroy any residual agent.
Binder said that the two entered a waste-disposal room in the main building
to do work there and test an alternate escape route.
“Between the control room and the people, there was a communication problem,”
she said, and they walked into the collection room.
Binder said that the two had protective clothing but not at the level they
normally would wear going into the storage room.
She said that the level of the agent in the room was low and that the men
were checked twice on site and once at a clinic.
“(Wednesday) we had a stand-down to review what happened,” she said.
Karyn Jones of GASP, a group that opposes the burning of the chemical agent,
said, “These are the kind of things we are concerned with. Worker safety is
a big issue with us. There have been similar problems at other sites.”
Also Wednesday, GASP filed a motion with the Oregon Court of Appeals asking
for a temporary halt to the burning.
The group alleges that continued burning will harm pregnant women, children
and breast-feeding infants.
