Anniston Star
June 27, 2003

Weapons incinerator passes Army inspection

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
06-27-2003

MOBILE

An Army inspection team has reviewed operations at the Anniston chemical weapons disposal facility and found it "ready to go," an official said Thursday at a conference in Mobile.

"We found a few things that need to be looked at," said Col. Henry Davis, associate for operations in the Chemical Materials Agency, the part of the Army responsible for safely storing and destroying the nation's aging chemical weapons stockpile. "For all intents and purposes, the place is ready."

The detailed review was not a requirement for starting up the incinerator, as the Army has said it hopes to do in July, officials said. But it ensures that all the proper procedures are in place there, and it is a precursor to a higher-level inspection in August.

A group of 18 inspectors from the Chemical Materials Agency and the Army Materiel Command, which oversees CMA, spent 10 days at the facility this month, said Tony Burdell, chief of the risk management team at the Anniston Army Depot.

Included in the detailed review were security procedures, safety procedures and contract rules, he said.

Though the reviewers did find some minor deficiencies, there were no problems with operations at the disposal facility.

"There were no critical deficiencies noted," Burdell said.

Some problems were corrected on the spot, he said. Other changes will be made next week. None are major, he said. They involve issues such as fixing typographical errors and information on plans and forms.

"It's always good to have external eyes look at your program," he said.

The Inspector General's team will visit the site from Aug. 18 to Aug. 22, said Cathy Coleman, spokeswoman for the depot.

The Anniston Army Depot is one of eight sites around the United States where obsolete chemical weapons are stored. In 2001, Army contractors finished building an incinerator to destroy the nerve and blister agent stored there. If operations start this summer, Anniston will be the third site to use incineration to destroy the weapons. By international treaty, the U.S. must dispose of its stockpile by 2007.