Weapons disposal may resume this week

Retooling at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal facility has gone so quickly that weapons disposal could resume early this week. Crews have been adjusting machinery to accept 105 mm artillery shells over the last several weeks. The work was expected to last through the beginning of July, but crews have worked quickly and the changes needed haven’t been as extensive as once thought. “You always plan for a more extensive involvement, and if it’s not there, you do the maintenance that’s required,” said Tim Garrett, the Army’s project site manager. Before destroying the 105 mm shells, crews would eliminate about 2,200 8-inch artillery shells that had been held back in case the Alabama Department of Environmental Management wanted additional test burns on the facility’s Metal Parts Furnace. The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal facility has destroyed 66,193 chemical weapons and 74,370 gallons of sarin, about 15 percent of the original stockpile. Both Anniston and the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Tooele, Utah are undergoing retooling for new rounds of chemical weapons. Tooele’s retooling will not be finished until next year. It will prepare the facility to destroy mustard agent. The Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility destroyed 2,546 pounds of VX between Saturday, June 11 and Saturday, June 18. To date, the facility has destroyed 28,484 pounds of VX. Newport uses a chemical neutralization process that creates a byproduct called hydrolysate. The Chemical Materials Agency, which oversees chemical weapons disposal around the country, plans to ship the waste to a DuPont plant in New Jersey, where it would be treated. Under the plan, some effluent from the waste would be discharged into the Delaware River following treatment. That plan has stirred controversy in southern New Jersey. U.S. Sen. John Corzine, D-N.J. and U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., demanded more information on chemical shipments at a press conference Tuesday morning, following a spill on June 10 of about 30 gallons of VX at Newport. The two Congressmen said the transportation of the material from Indiana to New Jersey would not be safe. CMA spokesman Jeffrey Lindblad said the spill was quickly contained. DuPont has created a process CMA said will eliminate 95 to 99 percent of what chemicals remain in the byproduct. Both sides are waiting for the Centers for Disease Control to make a decision about DuPont’s process. Hydrolysate is being stored at Newport pending a decision. The Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility destroyed 1,345 sarin-filled rockets and 8,662 pounds of nerve agent between Tuesday, June 14 and Sunday, June 20. To date the facility has destroyed 11,363 rockets and 101,330 pounds of sarin. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Umatilla, Ore. destroyed 1,884 rockets and 22,512 pounds of agent between Thursday, June 16 and Wednesday, June 22. To date Umatilla has destroyed 17,924 rockets and 184,488 pounds of agent. Processing at both facilities went smoothly, said Cheryl Martin and Mary Binder, spokeswomen for the Pine Bluff and Umatilla disposal facilities. Fires erupted during rocket processing at Umatilla and Pine Bluff in April and May; motor engines from nine rockets have been sent to labs in an effort to determine the cause of the fires.

About Brian Lyman

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