Anniston Star
August 20, 2003

Incinerator cold Tuesday

By Nathan Solheim
Star Staff Writer
08-20-2003

Destruction of chemical weapons here in Anniston was a no-go Tuesday as workers performed a safety inspection on the burn management system and discovered a faulty valve that must be replaced.

Cathy Coleman, a spokeswoman for the Chemical Materials Agency here, said the faulty valve mixes the fuel that feeds the deactivation furnace, where M55 rockets, after draining, are destroyed.

Operations could resume today, she said. To date, the Army has destroyed 111 rockets filled with deadly GB nerve agent.

“They’re not going to do anything until it’s safe, so if it takes longer, they’ll burn when it’s ready,” Coleman said.

The Army has not burned any chemical agent so far. Coleman said much more of the GB nerve agent must be collected before feeding the chemical into the facility’s liquid incinerator.

Anniston’s issues come on the heels of incidents at two other chemical weapons disposal facilities around the nation Monday and late last week.

Workers were evacuated from the Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal Facility’s neutralization building early Sunday morning.

Smoke from a filter responsible for venting a water tank was the culprit in the evacuation. The smoke tripped an alarm and workers in Aberdeen evacuated the building and the Aberdeen Proving Ground Fire Department was called into action.

The Army said in a news statement that no workers were injured and no agent was released. Officials are investigating the cause of the accident. Aberdeen has processed 52 tons of Mustard agent so far.

The Army also is delaying destruction of VX nerve agent at its chemical disposal facility in Newport, Ind., because of safety concerns, a local television station reported last week.