Hermiston Herald
March 12, 2002

EQC to allow trial burns: More permits still needed prior to actual burning

By Frank Lockwood
Staff writer

HERMISTON - The Environmental Quality Commission has nixed the Department of Environmental Quality's recommendation to require secondary-hazardous-waste treatment permits prior to a surrogate "shakedown" of Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

The DEQ had reported concerns that treating and disposing of secondary waste is a low priority for UMCDF, although depot officials had assured that there will be no "legacy wastes," at the Umatilla Chemical Depot upon completion of stockpile disposal.

The Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) accepted DEQ recommendations at Friday's Portland meeting, but unanimously voted to modify them in order to allow startup of surrogate burns without prior approval of a treatment program for secondary wastes, DEQ spokesperson Tom Beam confirmed Monday.

Secondary waste streams, including some 700 tons of spent carbon, are expected to contain traces of chemical-warfare agent until they are treated at the end of the campaign, using the Metal Parts Furnace.

Only a few secondary waste issues remain to be resolved, UMCDF Project Manager Don Barclay said. Beam, however, said those issues were a concern. "Over half of the secondary waste streams identified in the hazardous waste permit do not now have an identified permitted treatment unit," Beam said.

Army contractors plan to use a process called "carbon micronization" to treat the spent carbon after the carbon has been contaminated through its use in the filtration system, but the micronization process is still under testing at an experimental incinerator on Johnston Atoll, an island in the Pacific Ocean.

The DEQ had reported concerns about what Beam called "continuing disposal issues in other places," including Hanford. As things now stand, the Army must identify the method and procedures for handling secondary waste before incinerating actual chemical agent, but surrogate burns may begin without those permits being approved.

The Army hopes to use the Metal Parts Furnace to treat secondary wastes, but that decision may not be formally recognized until sometime in July, two months after surrogate operations begin. Meanwhile, the DEQ is increasingly concerned about the Army's "slow progress" in demonstrating a carbon treatment technology. DEQ reports that 700 tons of agent-contaminated carbon will accumulate and be stored at the Umatilla site until the completion of chemical agent munition processing, when it will mostly likely be burned in the Metal Parts Furnace, one of four furnaces at UMCDF.

Originally, the Army had planned to build a fifth incinerator for dunnage, but later changed the plan, hoping to use micronization and the Metal Parts Furnace instead. As a result, there is no permitted treatment technology for the secondary waste that will be generated during processing.

Three years ago, the dunnage incinerator was put on hold, and, in October,
1998, the permittees presented a plan to treat carbon using the "Carbon
Micronization System." With micronization, the carbon is ground exceedingly
fine in order to make it burn more completely and thus meet emissions
standards.

Army officials say that incomplete permits should not be allowed to
interfere with surrogate burns, since surrogate does not pose a risk similar
to the agent used in chemical weapons, and secondary wastes will be treated
after the incineration campaign is complete.

The EQC agreed to allow surrogate trials to begin without secondary waste
permits, however, the permits for processing secondary waste must be in
place before the incineration of actual agent.

That decision may save millions of dollars. According to Dave Nylander,
environmental manager for Washington Demilitarization Company, it costs
$250,000 to $300,000 per day to operate the plant. Once the facility is
ready for operation, the company will keep employees busy with training,
however, he said, "Each day's delay is an expense that we don't to incur."

"Treatment technology remains to be identified for 5 percent of the waste,
"Barclay said, but, "The secondary wastes don't pose a threat to the public,
and we don't want the public to have to endure more days of exposure to the
risk of storing chemical agent."

Surrogate shakedown operations are to begin on May 25, with surrogate trial
burns commencing on June 10, 2002, and nerve agent shakedown operations
commencing in February 2003.

Frank Lockwood may be reached at 567-6457 or by e-mail at
flockwood@hermistonherald.com.