Environmental News Service October 18, 2002

United States: Chemical Weapons Incinerator Has Cracks, Leaks

U.S. Army inspectors have discovered cracked bricks, cracked pipes and broken seals at the U.S. Umatilla Chemical Depot incinerator, which was shut down Oct. 2 after failing test incinerations, Oregon environmental officials said.

While "crawling into units and taking them apart" at the depot to figure out why potentially harmful metals have been escaping into the air, inspectors have discovered areas that need recaulking, according to Wayne Thomas, project manager for Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality.

The depot plans to suspend further test burns until November or later, Army officials said (see <http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2002/10/4/8s.html>GSN, Oct. 4). Officials had planned to begin incinerating live agents from the depot's chemical weapons stockpile by February 2003, but that schedule might change now, according to the AP (Associated Press, Oct. 11).