By Brian Lyman
Star Staff Writer
05-22-2005

Weapons destruction continued at Anniston this week but halted at two other facilities as officials looked for the sources of recent fires there. Crews in Anniston destroyed 1,088 155-mm artillery shells and 750 gallons (about 6,825 pounds) of agent. The facility has destroyed 61,654 weapons and 71,080 gallons (647,000 pounds) of agent, about 15 percent of the stockpile. Tim Garrett, the Army’s project site manager, said crews had destroyed the overpacked and explosive-filled 155-mm rounds. Crews now are destroying non-explosive rounds. Processing came to a halt at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Umatilla, Ore., and the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal in Pine Bluff, Ark., this week after Umatilla on Wednesday experienced its third fire since early April. The fire was on Umatilla’s rocket processing line and lasted about three seconds. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality ordered an immediate halt to processing. “The first fire occurred April 7, and it seemed to be an isolated incident,” said Dennis Murphy, administrator of chemical weapons disposal for the Oregon DEQ. “When the second fire occurred only eight days later in terms of processing (on April 23), that began to look like a strange coincidence. And when we saw the third fire, 1,700 rockets later, it appears clear what we’ve got is a trend.” Officials initially believed the rockets’ shearing system was causing the fires, and Umatilla crews adjusted their fire-prevention system, which now covers a wider area and comes on in the event of an explosion; the water system came on in previous incidents after flames appeared. The focus has shifted to the rockets themselves and the propellant in them. Samples of the propellant will be sent to an Army depot in New Jersey this week for analysis. “There is still work going on at the plant,” said Mary Binder, a spokeswoman for Umatilla. “There are still rockets on the line. We finished those. We also had some agent processed in the LIC (liquid incinerator). But of course we don’t have rocket processing.” No restart date has been set. “We’ve got 77,000 rockets to process here,” Murphy said. Pine Bluff also is destroying rockets and that facility experienced a fire on May 11 in its explosive containment room. Processing resumed May 13, but Bob Love, the acting project general manager for the Washington Group, which manages the plant, ordered a suspension after Wednesday’s fire at Umatilla. A statement from Pine Bluff Friday said processing had resumed after crews determined that additional work would be “safe and compliant.” Spokeswoman Raini Wright said the facility had installed safety measures similar to Umatilla’s, aimed at keeping the shearing equipment cool when it cuts into the part of the rocket that contains propellant. But crews did not find a connection between the Umatilla fires and the one in Pine Bluff. “Based on our assessment, we were not able to find any direct relationship between the fire that occurred here and the one that occurred in Umatilla,” she said. Pine Bluff destroyed 1,223 sarin-filled rockets and 8,768 pounds of agent between Tuesday, May 10 and Monday, May 16. To date the facility has destroyed 4,875 rockets and 38,157 pounds of agent. The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility destroyed 1,449 VX-filled mines between Monday, May 9, and Sunday, May 15. To date the facility has destroyed 1,009,285 munitions and 14.7 million pounds of material. Numbers for weekly disposal at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Newport, Ind., were unavailable. Since starting operations on May 5, the facility has destroyed 6,022.4 pounds of VX.

About Brian Lyman

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