Incinerator to start back up

By Rob Jordan
Star Staff Writer
06-22-2004

After three weeks of sitting idle, the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator will likely start up again today, according to an Army official. Shut down since June 2 for a scheduled maintenance period, the incinerator was set to start burning nerve agent-filled munitions Monday. An unforeseen repair in the deactivation furnace pushed the schedule back, according to Army spokesman Mike Abrams. Workers had to replace a gasket on one furnace’s pollution abatement system. The gasket showed “some signs of wear,” Abrams said. Abrams emphasized there was no rush to restart. “We won’t start until we know everything’s ready,” he said. The incinerator, in operation since August 2003, has burned all non-leaking, drainable sarin-filled rockets in the Anniston Army Depot’s chemical weapons stockpile. The number represents more than 40 percent of the depot’s stockpile of rockets filled with sarin and VX or nerve agent, according to incinerator officials. Munitions with more than 4.5 million pounds of sarin, VX and blister agent remain in the depot’s stockpile. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has yet to approve burns of non-drainable or gelled sarin rockets at the incinerator. Until that approval is given, the incinerator will burn only remaining leaking, drainable rockets, Abrams said.

About Rob Jordan

Rob Jordan covers criminal justice issues for The Star.