Anniston Star
August 12, 2003

Hydraulic fluid spill halts incinerator; will restart today

By Matthew Korade
Assistant Metro Editor
08-12-2003

Incineration of chemical weapons in Anniston was delayed for 24 hours Monday after workers at the Anniston Army Depot’s chemical weapons incinerator discovered a machine that chops the rockets up for burning had spilled some hydraulic fluid.

Workers made the discovery during routine, pre-operational checks Monday morning, said Mike Abrams, the depot’s spokesman. After performing some maintenance work, the crew on duty appeared to have the problem solved, he said. Abrams expects incineration to resume at a slower pace today.

Crews had been preparing for the third day of incineration when they discovered the malfunction, Abrams said. He stressed that the spill was in no way related to chemical agent, and affected only one of the blades that chops the aging rockets into eight pieces before the sections are dropped into a furnace.

Workers had planned to burn 40 sarin-loaded rockets Monday, or five an hour over the course of an eight-hour day. That number probably will be reduced to a total of 15 rockets Tuesday as the new work crews of about 85 persons each become comfortable with the process, Abrams said.

“We’re giving all four crews as much latitude as they need to build their proficiencies (and) confidence levels,” Abrams said.

Eventually, officials plan to accelerate to 40 rockets an hour, the maximum rate allowable.

Abrams said the day crew could have worked around the problem and continued burning the weapons Monday, but “we didn’t want to work around a patched up facility.”

Officials have estimated it will take about seven years to destroy the 4.5 million pounds of nerve- and blister-agent-filled rockets, landmines and mortars that are stored at the Anniston Army Depot.