[CPEO-MEF] Glitches fixed, Alabama weapons incinerator resumes burning

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Alabama
TUSCALOOSA NEWS
Glitches fixed, Alabama weapons incinerator resumes burning
The Associated Press
8/13/03 3:41 PM

ANNISTON, Ala. (AP) -- The Army's newest chemical weapons incinerator
resumed destroying munitions Wednesday after a two-day shutdown caused
by mechanical glitches right after it opened.

No one was hurt, and none of the problems involved the nerve agents
being destroyed at the Anniston Army Depot, according to incinerator
spokesman Mike Abrams.

The incinerator, which began test burns of M55 rockets loaded with sarin
on Saturday, did not operate on Monday after workers found hydraulic
fluid had leaked from a blade used to chop the weapons into pieces.

No one was exposed to nerve agents but workers had to wear protective
gear because the problem was in an area that has been exposed to lethal
chemicals.

Workers discovered another problem Monday night with the motor on the
cooling system for the charcoal filter banks that remove contamination
from the incinerator's exhaust.

Abrams called the system "our final protection against the possibility
of an agent release in the stack," such as happened at the Army's
incinerator at Tooele, Utah, in 2000.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030813/APN/308130922&cachetime=5

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