By Hal McCune of the East Oregonian HERMISTON — As incineration of chemical weapons continues, the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility is moving ahead with plans for disposing of secondary waste. Secondary waste includes everything from “gray water” left over from laboratory work to metal casings that stored chemicals — basically anything that comes in contact with chemical agent and its containers. A dozen 55-gallon drums of laboratory gray water were moved recently from storage igloos to the Munitions Demilitarization Building in preparation for destruction in the Liquid Incinerator. “Processing this solution is an important step forward in keeping our commitment to destroy secondary wastes generated during weapons disposal,” said Don Barclay, site project manager for the disposal facility. Lab workers generated the soapy solution primarily from cleaning glassware and other equipment used in day-to-day monitoring activities since 1999. In all, about 160 drums of the solution will be incinerated. Barclay said destroying the laboratory waste marks another chemical weapons disposal milestone. “Eliminating secondary waste is as important as destroying chemical agents,” he said, because of the Army’s commitment to the community that “it will not leave behind a legacy of waste.” The Army’s permit with the state requires all waste created during the chemical weapon incineration process also be destroyed. “We are meeting these commitments,” Barclay said. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality recently approved a permit modification request allowing the disposal facility to process the stored gray water and to destroy such waste in the future in the Liquid Incinerator rather than put it in storage. From now on, the soap solution will be transferred from a laboratory holding tank directly to the Liquid Incinerator for disposal. During initial planning for the disposal facility, the Army planned to build a separate dunnage incinerator for secondary waste. DEQ agreed in 2001 that wasn’t necessary, but it stipulated that no waste be left behind after chemical weapons incineration is complete. The Army recently submitted a permit modification request to officially delete the dunnage incinerator and add a Carbon Micronization System (CMS) to the facility design to be used once all the chemical weapons stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot are destroyed. The CMS would destroy spent carbon, the only secondary waste not already permitted for destruction at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. Carbon waste is created in the exhaust stream of the disposal facility’s pollution abatement system, and in the building’s ventilation system, which uses carbon filters, said Michael Strong of the disposal facility. The CMS will remove spent carbon with a vacuum system and send it to a storage hopper, where it will be pulverized into fine particles and fed into an incinerator. |
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