Incinerator finishes last 35-inch-long artillery shells

The Anniston chemical weapons incinerator finished the third course of its campaign to destroy sarin-loaded weapons stored at Anniston Army Depot this weekend and is expected to finish the last and smallest of the weapons containing the agent by the end of the year.

Sunday, the furnaces burned the last of the 35-inch-long artillery shells and liquid sarin. Westinghouse Anniston, the contractor operating the incinerator for the Army, plans to begin burning the remaining, smallest shells by the end of the week.

The Army is not allowed to say how many of the 15-inch-long, 32-pound artillery shells are stored at the depot, said Army spokesman Mike Abrams. However, he said 80 percent of the sarin agent has been destroyed.

Today or Wednesday, workers will begin destroying simulated weapons to prepare for the change in weapons. However, no time for retooling is planned nor will the facility need a new environmental or safety permit. Since the artillery are so similar and the sarin is the same, it is expected that the equipment can easily shift from one type of weapon to another, Abrams said.

After all the 32-pound artillery shells are destroyed, the Army will begin an extensive process of reconfiguring and testing equipment before beginning to burn weapons containing VX. That campaign is planned for next spring.

The incinerator opened in August 2003 to destroy the Cold War-era weapons stored in Anniston in compliance with an international treaty requiring the United States to destroy its chemical weapons by 2012.

The incinerator is expected to finish operations, including destruction of weapons loaded with VX and mustard agent, within five years. About 84 percent of the nerve and blister agent remains, Abrams said.

So far, the incinerator has destroyed 68,388 chemical weapons and 78,119 gallons of liquid sarin agent in three furnaces at the complex, according to figures from Westinghouse.

E-mail: kbouma@bhamnews.com