Army prepares to test furnace at incinerator

The Army is preparing for hazardous-waste testing of its final furnace at the Anniston chemical weapons incinerator, so it can receive a permit to burn sarin-loaded projectiles.

Westinghouse Anniston, the contractor operating the incinerator, began destroying M55 rockets in August 2003. The rockets, which also held liquid sarin, used only the incinerator's liquid and explosives furnaces. Those burners already have passed federal tests for hazardous air pollution, such as heavy metals.

But destroying the 200-pound projectiles requires both those furnaces plus a third that destroys metal parts.

In the trial burns expected to begin Monday, the Army must prove to state and federal environmental regulators that it can safely and efficiently burn weapons for eight-hour stretches on two consecutive days without problems. The number of projectiles the Army is allowed to burn per hour will be based on performance during the trial burn.

Under federal rules, the incinerator is allowed to slowly begin destroying the projectiles as practice before the extensive tests. After destroying all the sarin rockets, workers at the incinerator complex on Anniston Army Depot began destroying eight-inch projectiles in October, in a slow ramp-up to Monday's trial burn.

"We wanted to be sure not only our equipment was ready but our crews were completely comfortable before we went into full operations," said Donavan Mager, a spokesman for Westinghouse Anniston.

If it passes next week's tests, the incinerator will undergo no further monitoring of hazardous-waste emissions for the duration of the sarin campaign. It will continue monitoring for sarin, however.

Anniston Army Depot is one of eight sites around the nation where the Army plans to incinerate or neutralize its chemical weapon stockpile to comply with an international treaty. The depot began with a stockpile of more than 660,000 weapons loaded with deadly sarin, VX and mustard agent. Since the incinerator began operations, it has emptied 26 of its 155 storage igloos, destroying more than 53,000 weapons and 63,000 gallons of sarin.

Officials say they expect to complete the sarin campaign by the end of this year. Then they will begin a five-month retooling and decontamination process to prepare to destroy VX weapons, which they say are the most dangerous in the stockpile.

The Army is studying sending weapons from other stockpiles to functioning incinerators, in an attempt to meet the treaty deadline of 2012. However, that is illegal now, and no legislation has been introduced to allow such transfers.

If it is required to destroy only its own stockpile, the incinerator is expected to cease operations in 2010.

Monitors with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management's hazardous waste team remain at the incinerator 24 hours a day, said ADEM spokesman Clint Niemeyer. "We'll be there until they shut the doors," he said.