August 22, 2002

Army investigates release at Johnston Atoll incinerator cleanup site

By Matthew Creamer
Star Staff Writer

Army officials are nearing the end of an investigation into a nerve agent release earlier this month at the chemical weapons incinerator being dismantled in the Pacific Ocean.

Workers at the Johnston Atoll incinerator, the prototype facility that served as a blueprint for the one near Anniston, discovered VX Aug. 12 in a container of hot sludge. The container was on a cooling pad when alarms sounded, indicating the presence of agent.

The Army confirmed this last week, but did not say how much of the lethal agent leaked into the environment. An anti-incinerator group, citing Army documents, however, has claimed that 45 times the permitted amount escaped.

"That's what we're trying to determine right now," said Army spokesman Barry Napp. "Hopefully we can come up with an accurate level we can confirm."

Johnston Atoll is about 750 miles southwest of Hawaii. The facility completed disposal operations in 2000 and is burning secondary waste while being dismantled.

Workers near the alarm Aug. 12 were wearing protective equipment, and tested negative for
exposure.

Processing in the incinerator's metal parts furnace, the system designed to handle contaminated byproducts from disposal operations, has been halted until the investigation is complete.

The information so far released suggests possible shortcomings in the monitoring systems
designed to detect agent. After the alarm on the cooling pads sounded, the container was shipped back into the airlock from which it came. Only then did a backup alarm in the airlock sound.

The investigation is looking at whether the monitoring devices need to be recalibrated, and at
operating procedures in general, the Army said.

This is not the first time that agent has been detected in material that already has been burned, according to Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group. He said a similar incident occurred in December 2000.

"The pattern of detecting chemical agent in material that has been run through the incinerator is very disturbing," Williams said. "It calls into question the fundamental destruction capability of the whole incineration approach."

Napp, the Army spokesman, said he expected the level of agent to be "very, very minute." He said the results of the investigation will be made public when it is complete, possibly within days.