Utah incinerator officials look at possible employee tampering

By Rob Jordan
Star Staff Writer
08-13-2004

An employee at the Army’s chemical weapons incinerator in Utah may have tampered with monitoring equipment the day before a monitor detected VX nerve agent in the facility’s exhaust stack, according to an Army contractor. EG&G Defense Materials Inc., announced Thursday it had been investigating alleged misrepresentation of monitoring records by an employee at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility EG&G notified the Army, reviewed monitoring data and confirmed that the employee made improper adjustments to an Automatic Chemical Agent Monitoring System (ACAMS) unit on the common stack at the incinerator July 16. The following day, the monitor detected VX. At the time, the Army said the monitor had likely detected an interferent, a non-chemical substance with characteristics similar to agent. A follow-up test, using different monitoring technology, ruled out the presence of nerve agent, according to Army spokesman Chuck Sprague. Officials with the State of Utah Department of Environmental Quality agreed that nerve agent was not the cause of the alarm. The employee, who works for EG&G’s laboratory and monitoring subcontractor, Battelle, has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. Battelle also does sub-contract work at the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator. In response, EG&G has inspected all VX ACAMS monitoring devices at the Utah facility.

About Rob Jordan

Rob Jordan covers criminal justice issues for The Star.