Local News

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Army set to fire up incinerator

By Matt Kasper

Star Staff Writer

07-22-2006

If destruction is a form of creation, the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility could be abuzz with activity this weekend.

As early as today, VX chemical nerve agents will be destroyed at the facility, the first active chemical destruction campaign since March when the last GB-filled munitions were eliminated.

"It's kind of like a successful rocket launch. There could be a last minute glitch," said Mike Abrams, a chemical weapons incinerator spokesman. "We are doing some equipment testing (Friday) afternoon and (Friday) night."

"Right now we're trying to see that all the t's are crossed and all the i's are dotted."

On Thursday morning, obsolete rockets containing the nerve agent were moved from storage igloos.

The two-year campaign to destroy the munitions marks the second phase of the project, which will culminate with the campaign to destroy mustard nerve agents.

"We're prepared to resume making this community safer," Abrams said. "And we make this community safer by destroying the risk that we have been living with since 1961."

Rockets will be processed one at a time with remote-operated equipment draining the agent from each rocket.

Each rocket will be sheared into eight pieces and burned; most of the nerve agent burning is taking place in early August, Abrams said.

According to March figures, VX-filled rockets, artillery shells and land mines account for 46 percent of the remaining chemical weapons stockpile at the Anniston facility.

Mortar shells, artillery shells and ton-size containers of mustard blister agent account for the other 54 percent.

Weapons munitions systematically have been destroyed since 2003, and the original Anniston stockpile included more than 600,000, Abrams said.

So far 142,428 chemical munitions have been destroyed. All are scheduled to be destroyed by late 2010.

"This is something we have done thousands of times in the past," he said. "What it means to the community is that there are fewer weapons in storage that could have been some cause for alarm."

The incineration follows nearly 20 weeks of preparation at the facility, during which workers prepared to handle contamination from the nerve agent, which is considered thicker than sarin, according to Tim Garrett, the Army's project site manager for the facility.

Dan Long, director of the Calhoun County Emergency Management Agency, said incinerating weapons is a slow process which involves careful monitoring.

’Äú"Our procedures do not change," he said. "This is about eliminating that hazard."

In the end, the process is not unlike the opening of a Broadway show, Abrams said.

"Over the next several days we'll gradually do more and more and more to make sure that everyone is fully prepared to operate," he said. "Until everyone has performed, there are going to be a few butterflies."

About Matt Kasper

Matt Kasper covers Jacksonville and Piedmont for The Star.

Contact Matt Kasper

Phone: 256-235-3546

Fax: 256-241-1991

E-mail: mkasper@annistonstar.com