Incinerator gets green light to up rocket burn rate

By Ben Cunningham
Star Staff Writer
05-07-2004

Workers at the Anniston Army Depot’s chemical weapons incinerator can begin destroying rockets at a faster rate, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday. The EPA notified incinerator officials that they could destroy M55 rockets filled with GB nerve agent, or sarin, at a rate of up to 25 per hour, about 75 percent of the incinerator’s maximum capacity. Officials said the tests showed the incinerator removed from the air 99.999999 percent of PCBs contained in the rockets’ shipping and firing tubes. The incinerator had narrowly failed some tests in November, prompting the retesting this spring. Tim Garrett, the Army’s site project manager at the incinerator, said the EPA action showed workers can destroy the rockets and protect the community as well. "The EPA letter is good news for us and the community," Garrett said. Craig Williams, director of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group and a critic of the incineration process, said the test results didn’t prove the facility could destroy the entire chemical weapons stockpile safely, only the rockets used in the trial burns. "We don’t agree with the process and the methods that were used in the second trial burn to try and demonstrate compliance," Williams said. "But since EPA let them do it, we’re not surprised." Mike Abrams, spokesman for the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, said workers began destroying rockets at a higher rate Thursday afternoon. "I would expect that in the coming days and over the weekend that we will see a gradually ramping up" to the higher rate, Abrams said.

About Ben Cunningham

Ben Cunningham covers education issues and the city of Jacksonville for The Star.