False alarm in Tooele blamed on new bricks
By Joe Bauman
Deseret Morning News
State regulators are checking a theory that new bricks are to
blame for an alarm that shut down the Army's chemical weapons incinerator
this past weekend.
The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility near Stockton, Tooele County,
was shut down after smoke monitors detected an unknown substance. The material
showed some characteristics similar to VX nerve agent.
The material posed no danger, and operations resumed Wednesday afternoon,
according to a news release from the facility.
Experts with the Utah Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste are examining
data from the plant to determine what happened, said Scott Anderson, manager
of the division's Hazardous Waste Branch. "It appears that there was an interferant
that perhaps came out of the bricking process," he said.
Marty Gray, manager of the division's Chemical Demilitarization Section, said
experts believe some other chemical beside VX caused the alarm. The material's
signature was "very close to" that of VX, but it wasn't that, he said.
Asked if it could be as dangerous as VX, Gray replied, "I would say no."
The material came out of the stack when the plant was not processing VX,
but spent decontamination fluid. It seemed to come from a liquid incinerator
that recently had been rebricked, he said.
A possible explanation is that the new bricks in one of the liquid incinerators
contained some material that volatilized when the furnace was heated up,
and the substance went up the smokestack.
Liquid Incinerator No. 1 was shut down, as it is apparently the source of
the material that set off the alarm. It will stay off-line until officials
figure out what caused the alarm.
"Since they've done that, they haven't had any more interferant," Gray said.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
