Anniston Star
May 21, 2003

International team to inspect Depot stockpile

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
05-21-2003

International inspectors arrived at the Anniston Army Depot Tuesday to begin a routine examination of the chemical weapons stockpile here, Army officials said.

The team is from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The group is responsible for implementing the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that bans chemical weapons and aims to eliminate them throughout the world. The United States ratified the treaty in 1997.

The inspection comes while the Army is trying to persuade local officials to agree to a plan that would start the chemical weapons incinerator in June. But an Army spokeswoman said the inspection is not related to that proposal.

"This is independent of that," said Cathy Coleman, spokeswoman for Anniston Chemical Activity at the Depot. "I'm sure they already had (the visit) on their books long ago."

Meanwhile, at another incinerator site, Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System in the Pacific Ocean, all burning has been completed, and the furnace has been shut down five months ahead of schedule, Army officials announced this week.

The furnace now will be dismantled, they said. The facility, where 2,000 tons of chemical agents have been destroyed, is expected to close permanently in December.

"We are sharing the lessons learned in being first to close a large chemical weapons disposal facility with the other facilities in the U.S.," Gary McCloskey, site project manager for Johnston Island, said in a statement.

International inspectors last visited the Anniston Army Depot in September, Coleman said. This will be their seventh inspection.

"They're just counting (munitions)," Coleman said. "They want to make sure we haven't gotten rid of something without telling them."

The team is expected to be here several days, depending on the thoroughness of the inspection, she said.

"They may just do spot checks or they can do 100 percent," Coleman said.

The inspectors are supposed to give 48 hours notice of their visit. They are accompanied by an American team from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Coleman said.

The Department of Defense began storing chemical weapons at the depot in 1961. More than 2,253 tons of nerve and blister agent are stored in igloos here.

The depot is one of eight chemical weapons storage sites in the continental United States. The others are in Arkansas, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Indiana, Maryland and Kentucky.