Anniston Star
August 26, 2003

Anniston’s incinerator: Up and running

By Nathan Solheim
Star Staff Writer
08-26-2003

The Anniston Army Depot’s chemical weapons incinerator resumed operations over the weekend after about a two-day break in the action so workers could investigate several false alarms in the facility’s monitoring system.

Meanwhile, incineration opponents questioned the early stages of the incinerator’s operations, saying the facility has been on-line an estimated 47 percent of the time since Army workers started destroying 2,254 tons of chemical weapons Aug. 9.

Mike Abrams, spokesman for the Anniston Chemical Disposal Facility, also said Monday the facility could begin destroying the bulk of nerve agent sooner than was originally thought. Abrams was referring to the facility’s liquid incinerator, which has remained off-line since start-up so workers could collect enough nerve agent for efficient use of that furnace, Abrams said.

Some small amounts of nerve agent have already been destroyed in the incinerator’s metal parts furnace, but the destruction of bulk agent wasn’t expected to come until at least four or five weeks into initial operations, officials said.

"We may be able to start the liquid incinerator sooner than I expected," Abrams said.

Army workers processed 44 M-55 rockets filled with deadly GB nerve agent Sunday and had processed 94 more rockets as of 3 p.m. Monday, 488 all total. The number is a fraction of the tens of thousands of M-55 rockets stored in igloos within the depot’s confines.

Army officials reported no other false alarms since resuming operations, but could not specifically say what caused them or what was done to remedy the situation.

"I don’t know which screwdriver they used or which knob they turned," Abrams said. "I don’t have the details, all I can say is we made some minor adjustments so that they would more accurately reflect the environment in which we are working."

Abrams also couldn’t say exactly how long the facility stopped processing rockets.

Craig Williams of the Berea, Ky.-based Chemical Weapons Working Group – an anti-incineration group — said the facility’s track record this far into operations wasn’t a confidence-builder.

Williams on Monday sent a request to incinerator officials asking for day-by-day numbers of weapons destroyed and other figures since the incinerator started up. According to his calculations, which he admitted were incomplete, the incinerator hasn’t been available more than half the time it’s been operational.

"I don’t remember (incinerator officials) saying you’re going to have to expect 50 percent down time on the front end," Williams said. "What I remember is all this smiley-face kind of ‘we’re ready to go, we’re confident, lessons learned,’ and this endless stream of reassurances of the efficacy and reliability of the facility. Measure that on the first two weeks of operations."

Army officials countered that the shakedown period is for working out any kinks in the procedure.

"We are not reacting to problems," Abrams said. "We are fine-tuning the facility and the equipment to make it an even smoother and efficient operation."