Sarin rocket burn done, VX risk believed worse

The risk from chemical weapon storage at the Anniston Army Depot has dropped 30 percent or more, according to the Army's studies, because the last sarin-loaded rocket was destroyed over the weekend.

The Army has spent more than a year slowly gearing up its chemical weapons incinerator, putting it through a series of tests and ultimately destroying 42,738 M55 rockets and 47,033 gallons of sarin they contained.

More than 660,000 Cold War-era weapons are stockpiled at Anniston, due to be destroyed under an international treaty.

The Army began destroying the sarin-loaded M55 rockets first because of a study that showed they presented 90 percent or more of the storage risk at the depot. Later studies have not held up that number, Army spokesman Mike Abrams said, but have indicated VX weapons could pose a greater risk.

While Army officials and their contractor, Westinghouse Anniston, celebrated the milestone, anti-burn activists warned that the worst is ahead.

"It's a good thing that they got rid of the GB M55s and they didn't kill anybody," said Craig Williams, executive director of Chemical Weapons Working Group. "They've accomplished that. The risk of the stockpile has diminished."

However, the VX weapons remain, Williams said, and present a greater risk than incinerating sarin. "VX is very stable unless it's subjected to heat," Williams said. "It's persistent. It stays on the ground. It stays on the vegetation. If it gets on you, it will kill you."

Sarin is more volatile than VX, meaning that it is easily turned into a gas, but it quickly dissipates in the atmosphere and does not cling to vegetation or people.

Neither sarin nor VX is expected to escape into the atmosphere under the Army's incineration plans. But some activists and residents believe the facility is not as safe as it should be nor its alarms as effective as they could be.

VX weapons also present a greater risk in storage, the Army now says. After both VX and GB rockets are gone, the risk of storage at the depot will have decreased by 98 percent, Abrams said.

Before moving on to VX weapons, however, the Army will finish its sarin work by destroying three types of artillery packed with the lethal liquid.

Westinghouse will not have to undergo any further testing or receive new permits, according to the state. It will have to retool the equipment, Abrams said.

"We don't have a specific date, but we expect that we can slowly begin 8-inch artillery processing in mid-December," Abrams said. "The entire artillery campaign should take us through the better part of 2005."

The Army estimates it will take until 2010 to destroy the 4 million pounds of sarin, VX and blister agent that remain in the Anniston Army Depot stockpile.

E-mail: kbouma@bhamnews.com