Incinerator to apply for ADEM permit for more storage space

By Brian Lyman
Star Staff Writer
03-09-2005

Crews at the ANCDF must wear heavy suits while performing maintenance in the facility. The suits are worn once and then must be discarded, along with other equipment that might be contaminated during the disposal process. The materials are classified as secondary waste.

ADEM last year granted permission to use emptied storage igloos for the storage of secondary waste, said Clint Niemeyer, a spokesman for the department.

“You can’t take it out and throw it in the Dumpster,” he said. “It has to be sealed and stored under strict conditions.”

ADEM monitors storage at the site.

The disposal facility wants to use other areas to store the waste. ANCDF Army project site manager Tim Garrett called the requested permit change “administrative.”

“It’s not an addition to the plant,” he said. “It’s just allowing certain areas to store waste pending its processing.”

A public meeting on the application will be held April 7 at 6 p.m. at the Anniston Chemical Demilitarization Community Outreach Office.

With the permit change, Garrett said, employees at the disposal facility would be able put the used suits and contaminated equipment through the Metal Parts Furnace.

The permit change would not lead to an increase in weapons stored on site, Garrett said. The Pentagon has frozen funding for the construction of chemical disposal facilities in Colorado and Kentucky, and has asked the Army to explore alternative ways of disposing of the nation’s chemical weapons. Transportation of weapons to existing facilities, like Anniston’s, is one option being explored.

“We’re not asking store bullets,” Garrett said. “It’s got nothing to do with that.”

Last fall, the ANCDF was granted a permit modification to ship brine, a by-product of its pollution abatement system, off-site. At the time, the facility produced 10,000 pounds of brine a day.

About Brian Lyman

Brian Lyman covers infrastructure and the cities of Heflin and Lincoln for the Anniston Star. He lives in Anniston.