This first important checkpoint for the Army’s Anniston incinerator and the crews who work there represents real progress on several fronts.
First and foremost, it represents a notable diminishment of the threat to this community caused by these Cold War-era weapons. They were never meant to last this long and their volatility involving continued storage represents greater danger to northeast Alabama than their safe destruction.
Secondly, reaching such a benchmark in just 87 days — since the first day of incineration on Aug. 9 — shows that a commitment to safety over speed is not only the best chosen course, it is efficient. Even though the facility has been off line for nearly three weeks in three months of operation — the Anniston incinerator has still outperformed its previous sister sights at Johnston Island and Tooele, Utah, in destruction numbers to date.
“So far,” Army project site manager Tim Garrett told The Star, “we’re standing by our commitment to operate that plant safely.”
And that’s all this community has asked, and all it should ever ask. Safety should trump time constraints every step of the way, so small shutdowns should not be looked upon in most cases as system failure but merely as extra precaution being taken to finally rid this community of a sinister presence.
Over the weekend the incinerator also began agent trial burns, and in the coming weeks will commence a shakedown period for gelled munitions. These are important events that bear close scrutiny, yet so far the facility has been operated without dangerous significant incident, without any real threat to the public.
The destruction of a 10,000th rocket represents a very real number with which people can identify, an achievement that should cause us to breathe easier. The destruction of deadly chemical warheads is no trifle thing, and there may well be some scares down the road; there will be further delays, like the conveyor problem during Tuesday’s trial burns, and possibly a lengthy shutdown or two, before this process is finished.
Yet we are well on our way to being out from under this specter of fear once and for all. Today we live in a safer place than we did three months ago.