| Workers destroying chemical weapons stored
at Anniston Army Depot soon may use more information when deciding whether
to move weapons from their storage bunkers.
The Army is considering changes to the way it calculates the
risks involved in moving rockets and other weapons containing nerve and blister
agent from the storage sites.
Army officials discussed the proposed changes with Anniston
Star editors and a reporter Wednesday, after briefing emergency management
directors from Calhoun County and surrounding counties on Tuesday.
"We've found a better way to manage risk on a daily basis,"
said Lt. Col. Darryl Briggs, commander of the Army's Anniston Chemical Activity.
The officials said the new risk analysis method would use more
information to help workers decide whether it is safe to move weapons to
a staging area prior to their destruction in the incinerator.
According to Mike Myirski, a meteorologist with the Army's
Chemical Materials Agency at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the current
risk analysis method is based on the likelihood of a specific accident --
called a "maximum credible event" -- and the weather conditions surrounding
the weapons storage and disposal site.
Weather conditions, including wind speed and direction, could
determine whether any populated areas near the depot would be exposed to
chemical agents in the event of an accident.
The new method would consider a range of potential accidents
aside from the maximum credible event.
The weather factors considered in the risk analysis would not
change, Myirski said.
The changes to the analysis method were developed after several
years of experience disposing of weapons in Anniston and at other sites, officials
said.
Local emergency management agency directors who were briefed
on the changes Tuesday told the Army they’d like to see a better comparison
of the new method with the existing method, and the new method’s impact on
safety considerations for the surrounding communities.
Army officials said Wednesday that the new method would not
change any safety considerations for the worse.
"We need to show them the new data is safer or equal to existing
data," said Tim Garrett, the Army's site manager for the project.
Briggs said the chemical weapons disposal facility in Umatilla,
Ore., is using the new risk analysis method, and the facility in Pine Bluff,
Ark., will implement it soon.
Craig Williams is director of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons
Working Group, a Kentucky-based citizens' group that is critical of the incineration
process. Williams said he is not familiar with the changes to the risk analysis
method.
"We're 21 years into this program," Williams said. "Just on
the surface, this is an interesting time to be reanalyzing the maximum credible
event."
Garrett said the Anniston facility soon will finish destroying
the 18,000 remaining projectiles containing the nerve agent GB. Workers then
will spend about 17 weeks preparing to destroy rockets containing VX. Garrett
said Anniston likely will see fires similar to 11 that have broken out at
other facilities destroying VX rockets. He said the fires have been entirely
contained at those facilities, and will be in Anniston, as well. |
