Tooele facility halts chemical disposal      

STOCKTON, Tooele County — Destruction operations were suspended this weekend at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility because of a problem affecting the furnace exhaust stack monitors and laboratory instruments.
     
Officials at the Deseret Chemical Depot facility in Stockton said the problem occurred shortly after 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, when one of two continuously operated agent detection monitors located at the main furnace exhaust stack detected a substance.
     
That substance, or interferant, exhibited characteristics similar to that of VX agent when being measured by stack monitors. Operations will not resume until its cause is verified, the depot said.
     
A potential source of the interferant is one of the liquid incinerators that had been re-bricked and had been restarted about a week before the incident, according to the depot, which said it poses no danger to workers, the community or the environment.