LATEST NEWS
Friday, December 24, 2004
Depot resumes
weapons destruction
By ANDREW BINION
of the East Oregonian
abinion@eastoregonian.com
HERMISTON — Following
a 22-day hiatus to retrain workers after a mishap earlier this month, Umatilla
Chemical Depot resumed the destruction of sarin nerve agent-filled rockets
Thursday afternoon.
Officials from the U.S. Army and the state Department of Environmental
Quality gave the green light Wednesday after about two weeks of retraining
workers, Depot spokeswoman Mary Binder said.
At least 27 rockets were destroyed Thursday and processing will resume
on Monday, she said.
To date, a total of 2,300 rockets have been destroyed.
On Dec. 1, two workers accidentally cracked the seal on a door inside
one of the filter units that allowed a small amount of chemical agent vapor
to escape into an adjacent room. The workers were not exposed to the agent
and no vapors were released into the atmosphere.
Washington Group International, the firm contracted to carry out
the processing of the chemical weapons stockpile, conducted a “root cause
analysis” of the mishap and carried out the retraining to the satisfaction
of the Army and DEQ, officials said.
“Training for us is ongoing anyway,” Binder said.
Dennis Murphey, administrator of the chemical demilitarization program
for DEQ, said Washington Group briefed the department on the corrective measures.
He said the mishap was a result of a breakdown in communications
between employees and a disregard for procedures.
Additional safeguards, such as locks on some areas, were part of
the plan to get the operation back under way, he said.
“It should prevent a reoccurrence,” Murphey said.
Rick Kelley, spokesman for Washington Group, described restarting
the destruction process as “slow and deliberate.” He said the additional
training was viewed positively by employees.
“We’re happy to get going again,” he said.