| Weapons processing remained at a standstill
at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility this week while officials
finished an investigation into a recent power loss and dealt with a problem
in the facility’s Metal Parts Furnace.
The facility lost power July 28 during a storm after
a suspected lightning strike. A backup battery system immediately took over
operating the facility after the strike, but backup generators failed to
take the power from the battery system.
Robert Love, project manager for Westinghouse Anniston,
said lightning appears to have opened two breakers in a nearby a substation.
Power continued to flow through the substation, but the opening of the breakers
cut electricity from the processing facility.
Crews have worked on the substation to ensure the backup
generators operate if the breakers re-open.
The outage lasted a little more than a half-hour, but
officials stopped processing while trying to figure out why the backup generators
failed to come on line.
With the problem fixed, crews spent most of the week
addressing an air leak in the facility’s Deactivation Furnace, which processes
explosives from munitions. The leak was affecting the temperature inside.
Love said the problem ap-peared to be resolved and expected
processing to resume this weekend. Two trays of munitions are ready to go
into the Metal Parts Furnace, which burns residue from drained shells.
“We try to get four trays ready to go into the Metal
Parts Furnace before we send any in,” Love said.
The facility has destroyed 68,490 weapons and 78,161
gallons of nerve agent, about 16 percent of the original stockpile.
The Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal facility in
White Hall, Ark., resumed operations last Wednesday after a stoppage for
electrical work along the facility’s heated discharge conveyor belt. The
belt carries out debris from the facility’s Deactivation Furnace.
The facility destroyed 545 sarin-filled rockets and
4,290 pounds of agent between July 26 and Monday. Pine Bluff has destroyed
13,874 rockets and 124,279 pounds of agent.
The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Umatilla,
Ore., experienced a fire in its explosive containment room on July 29. The
fire occurred along a shearing line as the machine cut through the back end
of a rocket. Three fires broke out at Umatilla for similar reasons during
the spring. The fire did not injure anyone or damage equipment.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation,
said Mary Binder, a spokeswoman for the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal
Facility.
“It’s reasonable for us to anticipate that we will
have these fires,” she said. “Our focus has been on mitigating the consequences
if we do have them.”
Weapons processing at the facility resumed July 31.
Umatilla destroyed 1,244 sarin-filled rockets and 15,632 pounds of agent
between July 28 and Wednesday. Crews have destroyed 25,610 rockets and 267,454
pounds of agent since processing began in 2004.
Weapons processing has stopped at the Newport Chemical
Agent Disposal Facility in Newport, Ind., while crews evaluate operations
and attempt to reduce the flammability of a byproduct created by the chemical
neutralization of VX at the facility. Officials plan a “Demonstration of
Safe Operations” early this week.
The Tooele Chemical Agent Destruction Facility in Tooele, Utah, is undergoing
a lengthy retooling period to begin processing blister agent. Weapons destruction
is expected to resume in the spring.
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