Anniston Star
September 10, 2003

ADEM finds 'minor' permit violations at incinerator

By Sara Clemence
Star Staff Writer
09-10-2003  

State environmental officials have found “relatively minor” permit violations at the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management detailed three problems, involving pipe markings and liquid levels in drainage sumps, in an Aug. 26 letter of noncompliance.

An ADEM official said Tuesday that the issues did not endanger anyone’s safety.

“Not provided they’re corrected in a timely manner,” said Steve Cobb, chief of ADEM’s governmental hazardous waste branch. “As soon as we brought them to their attention they immediately started working on them.”

The Army’s project manager at the incinerator termed the issues “very minor,” and said that managers would discuss one problem and work with ADEM to fix the other two.

The incinerator was built to destroy the 2,253 tons of chemical weapons stored at the Anniston Army Depot since the 1960s. The controversial facility was completed in 2001 but did not begin live operations until August. It is now processing M55 rockets filled with GB nerve agent, or sarin.

ADEM issued the environmental permit for the incinerator and has inspectors on site around the clock.

The first problem outlined in the letter involves pipe flanges, the areas where pipes connect.

“It’s just a requirement of the regulations that each flange carrying certain types of material have to be marked,” Cobb said. Since the presence of nerve agent means that many areas of the plant can’t be accessed without special protective gear, the flanges have to be visible by video camera, he said.

Garrett said he believes the facility “meets the intent” of the regulation. Pipelines that carry agent are color-coded in brown, and are marked on maps, he said, and the building is designed so all air is filtered before being released to the outside.

“So we’re going to take exception to this one,” he said.

Garrett said the facility would comply with ADEM if necessary, though doing so would require sending workers into contaminated areas.

The second problem ADEM found concerned the sumps at the plant, the channels that drain liquid from the floor in different areas.

In one sump system, ADEM said, the level of liquid in the sump was above permitted levels for a more than 24 hours. It needs to stay below the low-level monitor, the letter said.

Garrett said the monitor is three-fourths of an inch off the floor, and that when the sump system is emptied, pump backwash takes it back above that level of the monitor.

“Right now it’s just mechanically not possible to drain that sump totally,” said Bob Love, project general manager for Westinghouse, the company operating the incinerator. He said they would work with ADEM to move the monitor higher.

The third problem had to do with the sump system in the area where containers loaded with rockets are brought into the facility.

In the letter, ADEM said the sump system contained more than three-quarters of an inch of liquid, although it is supposed to be checked every day and kept below that level.

Garrett said the sumps collect rainwater and that the daily inspection requirement had been taken out of the permit, but accidentally left in the inspection protocol.

“That is, in my mind, an administrative problem we’ve got to address with the state,” Garrett said.

Love said the facility would comply with the requirement until the inspection protocol is changed.

The Army has 30 days to reply to the letter.

Cobb would not comment on the Army’s explanations. “Until we have the document in hand we can’t say whether we agree or not,” Cobb said.

“We’ll have to evaluate whether we agree with their position or not.”

Cobb said he did not believe any other problems had been found since weapons processing began.