02/18/04

An anti-burn coalition has asked the Army to shut down the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator because of a string of "technical problems, process malfunctions and near-miss incidents at the incinerator."

The Army did not have a response Tuesday to the letter, which was addressed to Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne. A spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency said the Army would take time to respond.

The Army had identical problems at its first two incinerators in the Pacific and Utah, according to the letter from the Chemical Weapons Working Group and 19 other environmental and community groups.

But instead of using its "lessons learned program" to address chronic problems, the letter stated, the Army is trying to increase its speed with especially tricky weapons, those that are loaded with sarin that has gelled or crystallized.

"Management routinely places workers at additional risk by violating the cardinal rule of limiting `hot' entries - that is, times when workers must perform activities in areas where chemical agent is present," the letter stated.

On Feb. 4, two workers were contaminated during a hot entry when they got sarin on their hands and then were unable to thoroughly decontaminate. One of them took three showers with water and caustic agent.

According to Craig Williams, executive director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, sources at other incinerators have told his group that workers are routinely given so much work during hot entries that they don't have time to stop and decontaminate if their hands touch nerve agent, as managers later said they should have.

Employees can work in full protective gear for only two to three hours, and all of their work is laborious and slow during that time. They are easily tired and lose a lot of body fluid.

The day workers were contaminated in Anniston, the group pointed out, the Army said the sarin had been confined to the furnace complex, although it got into an open area where workers would be present in street clothes.

A week later, the Army said workers had continued to test positive for the deadly nerve agent sarin all the way to the incinerator clinic building.

"This kind of spin further undermines what little faith community members have in the Army to tell them the truth about problems at the incinerator and the risks to their families and workers at the facility," Williams wrote.

The incinerator is down for maintenance today but is expected to start again Thursday in its mission to destroy more than 660,000 Cold War-era weapons stockpiled at Anniston Army Depot.