By Dawn House
The Salt Lake Tribune
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Processing of deadly VX nerve agents
contained in giant spray tanks was suspended Thursday at the Tooele Chemical
Agent Disposal Facility while computers are recalibrated for stricter environmental
controls.
Officials suspended the disposal operations for a safety and compliance review,
expected for the next seven to 10 days, said Alaine Southworth, spokeswoman
for the nearby Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele
County.
EG&G Materials Inc., the plant systems contractor, initiated the review
after the implementation of the tighter standards led to an increase in alarms
monitoring carbon monoxide and oxygen concentrations.
The new, stricter controls were required to be in place Sept. 29, under the
Maximum Achievable Controls Technology, or MACT, standard.
"This review is a sound course of action and emphasizes
the Army's commitment to
air quality," said Ted Ryba, acting site project manager. "It will ensure
that we are fully compliant with the MACT as we finish the VX agent campaign
and plan for the future mustard agent disposal."
VX agent is so powerful that a single drop on the skin can cause death within
15 minutes.
In another matter, a worker at the Tooele Chemical Disposal Facility was
fired as a result of an investigation
launched this summer. The employee, who worked for Battelle, EG&G's subcontractor,
was accused of silencing an emergency alarm system.
The investigation, which focused on monitoring that occurred in July, had
turned up several other irregularities that date back to April, officials
said.
Since the furnaces were fired up in 1996, crews have destroyed over half
the
aging
chemical weapons stored at the depot, processing more than 7 tons of nerve
and blister agents. The remaining nerve agent and mustard gas stored in the
Tooele County facility still surpasses the size of any other chemical weapons
stockpile.
The Tooele Army installation, 40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, is one
of four American facilities destroying chemical weapons. |
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