Last of two parts • Kentucky site behind on weapons disposal • 'Bunker busters': Small nuclear weapons hailed as new way to strike deep targets Graphics Army begins to destroy chemical arsenal The U.S. is destroying its chemical weapons at storage sites at Tooele, Utah, and Anniston, Ala. Nuclear weapons research sought The Bush administration wants to research the development of low-yield "bunker-busting" nuclear weapons that would strike targets deep underground. Multimedia Where in the world is WMD? Find out about the weapons and the countries that possess them by clicking icons on an interactive Flash map. Welcome to Pink Zone U.S.A. The residents of Anniston, Ala, live with the fear of chemical weapons every day. Find out why in this Flash photo story. Yesterday » U.S. intelligence agencies say weapons of mass destruction may be spilling into some of the world's most dangerous places through black markets that we know little about.

ANNISTON, Ala. — Jokes about duct tape and plastic wrap as a defense against chemical attack don't go over well here, especially in the "pink zone."

That's the official name for an area within a nine-mile radius of the Anniston Army Depot where the government recently started burning more than 2,200 tons of GB and VX, nerve agents meant to kill on contact, along with the blister agent known as mustard gas.

Anniston is one of eight locations nationwide where the U.S. military will be destroying its arsenal of chemical weapons in accordance with an international treaty.

It's an especially sensitive issue here because nowhere else are the weapons so close to residential areas.

"Once again it's the people at the bottom end of the economic totem pole who have to suffer the risks here," said Carlos Woodard, pastor of the Wings of Faith Cathedral. "It's ironic that we're at more of a risk from our own chemical weapons than we ever were from Saddam's. I pray they know what they're doing in there."

Meanwhile, Congress is calling for enhanced safety at incinerators including the one in Anniston.

The Senate approved a "sense of the Congress" provision as part of a defense-spending bill yesterday that asks the Army to improve chemical monitoring at the incinerator sites. The House had already approved the same request.

The measure, sponsored by Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., is nonbinding but aims to apply more pressure on the Army to invest in such technology as infrared spectrometers, which supporters say can detect a chemical accident far more quickly than the monitors currently in place.

After years of legal wrangling, the Army recently began incinerating 661,529 chemical-weapon units that have been stored on the eastern Alabama site for 40 years.

The shells, many of them 7-foot rockets made of fiberglass and aluminum, are stored in concrete-reinforced, earth-covered bunkers covering about 800 acres. A significant gas leak from this guarded complex could kill dozens, perhaps hundreds, of the 35,000 Anniston residents living in the pink zone, depending on the winds and other environmental factors.

If there's one point the locals and the Army agree on, it's that the rockets are leaking and need to be destroyed as soon as possible.

"We find leakers almost on a daily basis," said Donovan Mager, a spokesman for Westinghouse, the company hired to destroy the weapons. "So we really need to get about the business of getting rid of this stuff."

GANNETT NEWS SERVICE PHOTOS Kimberly Brunni, 38, left, and her daughter, Jasmine, 9, tried on chemical escape hoods in Anniston, Ala. Residents who live close to where chemical weapons are being destroyed have been issued home protection kits. Carlos Woodard, pastor of Wings of Faith Cathedral, said "Once again it's the people at the bottom of the economic totem pole who have to suffer the risks here.''

Many pink zone residents contend that incineration isn't the safest way to do it. They would prefer chemical neutralization, which the Army is using successfully in Maryland.

The Army maintains incineration is safe, efficient and tested, having been used successfully on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean and in the desert near Tooele, Utah.

Changing disposal methods in Anniston now would add years to the process, which already will extend well beyond the original 2007 target date for completion.

As a precaution, residents in the pink zone have been issued home protection kits that include plastic hoods equipped with gas masks in case of a leak.

As an added safety measure, schools in the pink zone are being pressurized so they would repel any leaking gas.

But residents like Jeanette Champion, who lives within the pink zone with relatives who cannot travel easily, remains worried.

"If there was a leak, there's no way we could get everyone out of there in time," she said during a recent rally in favor of using chemical neutralization over incineration. "I don't think my fears are exaggerated. Look at the problems they're having with this thing already."

Two days after the burning began Aug. 9, problems with the hydraulic and cooling systems forced the process to shut down. Depot spokesman Mike Abrams stressed that there was never any risk of chemicals entering the atmosphere.

The burning has since resumed without any safety risks. But the early problems have only reinforced concerns among incineration opponents, now waging a last-ditch effort to block the burning through the federal courts.

"These problems prove that the technology being used here is not as effective or as safe as they claim it is," said Craig Williams, executive director of the Berea, Ky.-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, a citizen organization that opposes incineration. "They spent huge sums on this facility, and 48 hours after it fires up, there are shutdowns."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.