The state of Utah wants some answers about faulty alarms in a control room and sloppy record keeping at the Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal System (CAMDS) at Deseret Chemical Depot.

Depot officials last Thursday stopped all hazardous waste operations at CAMDS because of findings identified in a letter from the state's Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste (DSHW), an agency which issues permits to the federal facility which disposes of hazardous waste.

The letter cited incidents where alarms were supposed to go off in a control room when emergency monitors outside malfunctioned. Another problem dealt with record keeping.

"Reviews of the logbook show many times that a 12-hour shift will pass with nothing being recorded," reads the letter from the state.

State officials made extensive reviews of operations at CAMDS over the past several months and requested that Deseret Chemical Depot (DCD) respond to the findings by Oct. 21.

Depot Commander Col. Raymond T. Van Pelt, however, went a step further and curtailed all hazardous waste operations at CAMDS. He wants a thorough review and will take 30 to 60 days to make sure all the issues are addressed, said Alaine Southworth, public affairs officer at DCD. She said that no problems were discovered at the main incinerator and storage areas, so work will continue as usual at those facilities The main incinerator area employs about 1,000 people.

The facility at fault employs 130 people and is located approximately 1.5 miles south of the main incinerator.

"We take the issues addressed by DSHW seriously," Van Pelt said, "and will not consider restarting operations until we have corrected all deficiencies and achieved a disciplined operational mindset and approach at CAMDS. We have initiated this work stoppage on our own because we are absolutely committed to the safety of our workers and the public."

Marty Gray, supervisor of chemical demilitarization for the Department of Environment Quality for the state said that Col. Van Pelt was extremely proactive in his response to the situation.

Southworth said the original mission of CAMDS was to develop and test new technology for demilitarization and disposal of toxic chemical munitions.

"Since the 1970s, CAMDS has developed personal protective ensembles, monitoring systems, processing equipment and procedures currently in use by other chemical agent destruction facilities across the United States," Southworth said.

Other missions were to develop a technical data package for use in design and construction of other similar plants and to process unserviceable chemical munitions.

Less than two weeks ago, the depot announced the Army's decision to transition the former research and development facility to a new mission of secondary waste segregation and closure. Secondary wastes are routinely generated as a normal part of storage and disposal of chemical weapons. Some of these wastes are classified as hazardous because they are contaminated with low levels of agent-residue, according to Southworth.

Typical secondary waste includes items such as personal protective equipment, insulation, cleaning materials, tools, steel containers and munition casings.

Deseret Chemical Depot is listed for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Committee, but several state leaders would like to keep the facility operational because of employment opportunities it provides.

Southworth said there are 8,000 barrels of hazardous waste still in storage at DCD which have been generated over time.

The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, 22 miles south of Tooele, will eventual dispose of 13,616 tons, or approximately 44.5 percent of the original U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons. The Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility is the first full-scale facility in the continental United States built to destroy chemical weapons and agent.

e-mail:mwatson@tooeletranscript.com