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Officials in charge of destroying Anniston’s chemical weapons
stockpile are considering changes to the way they calculate the risk posed
by the weapons and their destruction.
Emergency management directors from the six counties surrounding
the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility were briefed Tuesday on new
assessments of the risk posed by the weapons, their movement and their destruction,
according to Mike Abrams, a spokesman for the ANCDF.
Meanwhile, as the stockpile shrinks, Abrams said, the risk
shrinks.
“We want to make sure our decision-making process is based
on the best information, the best research,” Abrams said.
At least one official from the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds
visited Anniston for the briefing.
Emergency management directors said they had questions about
the proposed changes, but said the Army appears to be making its decisions
based on the safety of residents and workers and not on the speed of weapons
disposal.
“We’ve asked them to look at some more things,” said Nelson
Bates, Talladega County Emergency Management Agency director. Bates said
the locals asked the military to do more comparison of the new risk analysis
to the existing system.
Calhoun County EMA director Dan Long said the proposed changes,
if local officials accept them, would have no impact on response plans in
case of an accident at the facility.
Bates said he asked if the proposed changes were based on
production quotas or on the safety of residents. He said military officials
satisfied him that safety is the prime concern.
“We just want to make sure we do everything based upon the
risk to the public,” Bates said.
“The main point was making sure the public’s safety is first,”
Long said.
Since beginning operations in August 2003, the Anniston facility
has destroyed most of its stockpile of GB nerve agent, Abrams said. All the
GB likely will be destroyed by the end of February, he said.
Then, after a three-month transition period, workers will
begin destroying weapons containing VX nerve agent before moving onto mustard
blister agent.
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