Assistant Metro Editor
Workers at the Anniston Chemical Disposal Facility destroyed the 10,000th rocket and started agent trial burns on significant parts of the facility over the weekend without incident.
The destruction benchmark, although only a fraction of the overall chemical weapons stockpile stored at the Anniston Army Depot, represents a significant portion of the Army’s munitions filled with deadly GB nerve agent, incinerator officials said Monday.
As for the trial burns, the results of the tests are to be reviewed by state and federal regulators to determine if the incinerator lives up to its billing as far as safety, emissions and effectiveness are concerned. Results won’t be available until early next year, said Army spokesman Mike Abrams.
The Army has been destroying tons of Cold War-era chemical weapons at the incinerator since Aug. 9. To date, 10,261 M-55 rockets filled with GB nerve agent, or sarin, have been punched, drained and burned in the facility’s deactivation furnace; 11,234 gallons of sarin have been burned in the facility’s liquid incinerator.
Abrams said six storage igloos, out of about 130, have been cleared of their rockets, though two are being used to store secondary waste.
The facility has shut down several times for various reasons – ranging from equipment maintenance to security concerns – but no threats to public safety or the workforce have occurred, Abrams said. Of the 87 days since startup, 20 days saw no processing of agent or rockets.
"We have not had any sort of community issue with our facility," Abrams said.
Tim Garrett, the Army’s project site manager, said the incinerator’s progress thus far has been punctuated with "good, conservative management decisions" that have kept the community and his workforce safe and the facility accident-free.
"I think it’s a monumental milestone, trying to hit those marks, and then moving on to the next milestone, the three-and-a-half-week agent trial burns," Garrett said. "So far, we’re standing by our commitment to operate that plant safely."
About 50 anti-incinerator protesters, some from Anniston, rallied in Birmingham Monday against the backdrop of President Bush’s fund-raiser and economy speech in hopes of getting him to stop the incinerator.
Garrett spent much of last week briefing the public about the trial burns and the progress of the facility, but some local residents still have reservations.
"My job is provide information to people so they can make their own decision," Garrett said. "It’s their right to see things as they do. I respect their right."
A successful execution of another shakedown period for gelled munitions is more than likely the next major benchmark for the Anniston incinerator, Garrett said. The shakedown is set for early 2004.
Gelled rockets have thickened nerve agent, making it more difficult to drain sarin from the munition’s casing.
Rufus Kinney, an incineration opponent from Jacksonville, didn’t make the trip to Birmingham but has reservations about the process and its progress so far.
"My biggest fear is and always has been the burning of gelled rockets in a single furnace, which goes against the permit," Kinney said. "They’re about to burn gelled rockets and it scares the hell out of me."
Kinney, as other anti-incineration residents, wants an alternate means of disposal.