This story was published Friday, December 3rd, 2004
By Jeannine Koranda Herald Oregon bureau
HERMISTON -- Destruction of
chemical weapons at the Umatilla Chemical Depot's disposal facility has been
shut down indefinitely after two workers opened a wrong door inside the incinerator,
allowing nerve gas to escape. The workers were not exposed
to the agent, and none leaked into the outside air, officials said. At about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday,
two male employees of Washington Group International were preparing to perform
a test on a filter for the plant's ventilation system, officials said Thursday.
The filter is one of nine used to clean air from the plant's ventilation system
before releasing it through a common stack, but had been out of service.
The workers unclamped door
No. 10 when they should have gone into door No. 1, explained Rick Kelley,
spokesman for Washington Group International, the company that has the contract
to run the incineration facility.
The move spewed contaminants into an adjacent room, he said.
The door was clearly marked and should not have been opened, Kelley said. "The labels were there, the employees just inadvertently went into a room without acknowledging the labels," he said.
The workers were wearing hard hats, glasses, safety shoes and carrying gas masks, he said.
The incinerator is destroying M55 rockets containing the nerve agent GB sarin, a process expected to last about 10 years.
However, the plant was not burning rockets or chemical agent when the door was unclamped, said depot spokeswoman Mary Binder.
Nerve agent from the plant's ventilation system did seep into an adjacent vestibule that is equipped with monitors and a passive filter system, Kelley said.
When the monitors detected nerve agent, they alerted those in the control room and the filters were turned back on, sucking air back into the system, he said.
Don Barclay, depot site project manager, described the incident as a breakdown in people and procedures.
"When something like this happens, we stop, question and initiate corrective actions," he said.
Kelley said he could not comment on whether there would be any disciplinary action.
Dennis Murphey, administrator of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's chemical demilitarization program, said his department was notified within about an hour of the incident Wednesday night.
He called it a serious situation that the department will be closely watching.
He also said he was pleased the plant had suspended operations during the investigation.
Murphey said the incident shares similarities with a mid-October event where two workers in mid-level protective gear accidentally entered a room potentially contaminated with nerve agent.
They had been collecting discarded protective suits used when workers enter rooms contaminated with chemical agents.