Anniston incinerator destroys 155-mm artillery at fast pace

By Brian Lyman
Star Staff Writer
05-08-2005

The projectiles are moving quickly. Workers at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility destroyed 1,691 155-mm artillery shells between Thursday, April 28, and Thursday, May 5, and 1,072 gallons (roughly 9,755 pounds) of sarin. Officials at the plant say the speed is due to the size of the 155-mm rounds, which are about half the weight of the 8-inch artillery shells, the last ones to be processed. “We can put more of the 155 rounds in a tray,” said Tim Garrett, the Army project site manager. “It’s 27 in a tray for an eight-inch, versus 48 for the 155. So you’ll see it go faster from a numbers perspective.” To date the facility has destroyed 58,284 weapons and 68,891 gallons (about 626,000 pounds) of agent, about 15 percent of the Cold War stockpile. Processing began this week at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Newport, Ind., with the processing of two containers of VX. The facility neutralizes the agent with sodium hydroxide and hot water. Also on Thursday, the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility restarted operations. Rocket destruction had stopped after a fire broke out on April 23 in the explosive containment room. It was the second fire in a month at Umatilla. An internal newsletter at the facility said a “definite” cause for the fire had not been established. Investigators were looking at the rockets involved in the fire: Both munitions were manufactured between October 1962 and March 1963. The newsletter said officials were examining the rockets to see if the events could be “better predicted.” Just one rocket at a time will be allowed in the facility explosive containment room. The facility destroyed 41 rockets Thursday, and has destroyed 12,872 rockets and 135,531 pounds of agent in all. The Pine Bluff Chemical Disposal Facility destroyed 1,426 GB-filled rockets from Tuesday, April 26, through Thursday, May 5, and sent 12,993 pounds of nerve agent to the incinerator during that time. In all, crews have destroyed 2,813 rockets and 19,720 pounds of nerve agent since disposal operations began in late March. Cheryl Martin, a spokeswoman for the Washington Demilitarization Company, the contractor for operations at Pine Bluff, said the facility was processing rockets at “85 to 90 percent” of its capacity, but operations were moving slowly. The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility destroyed 2,846 VX-filled mines between April 17 and May 1. To date the facility has destroyed 1,006,357 munitions and about 14.6 million pounds of agent. Alaine Southworth, a Tooele spokeswoman, said the mine-processing at Tooele should be wrapped up next month.

About Brian Lyman

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