Incinerator workers finish trial burns

By Rob Jordan
Star Staff Writer
07-20-2004

After several setbacks, workers at the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator have completed trial burns of undrainable or gelled sarin-filled rockets, according to officials there. If state regulators approve results of the tests, which concluded Saturday, the incinerator will be cleared to burn gelled rockets on a full-time basis. Officials stopped the first of three 4-hour burns June 14 after a device that guides rocket debris through the deactivation furnace shut down due to a motor malfunction. Trial burns resumed the following day, but Alabama Department of Environmental Management officials stopped a June 16 test after the motor malfunctioned again. Workers cooled the furnace down to fix the device but were then unable to bring the furnace up to temperature to complete the test, according to Justin Martindale, an ADEM engineer. Army spokesman Mike Abrams described the mechanical errors as minor and not indicative of a larger problem. "It is a complex system. When you adjust one thing, it could have an effect on another," Abrams said. "We have seen nothing that gives us any pause." State regulators rejected parts of an April gelled rocket trial burn when it was discovered that workers had mistakenly monitored emissions with a single 4-hour sampling device instead of four 1-hour sampling devices, as required. Incinerator officials blamed an "administrative error." During the course of last week’s shakedown period and trial burns, the incinerator destroyed 394 gelled rockets, including 65 Sunday, when ADEM allowed disposal of additional rockets instead of risking transport back to storage areas, according to Abrams. There are about 7,800 gelled rockets remaining in the Anniston stockpile, according to officials there. While awaiting word from ADEM, incinerator officials plan to destroy rockets that have leaked agent inside their shipping and firing tubes.

About Rob Jordan

Rob Jordan covers criminal justice issues for The Star.