[CPEO-MEF] Army to slow pace of chemical burn testing

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Alabama
THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS
Army to slow pace of chemical burn testing
Katherine Bouma
10/30/03

ANNISTON - Army officials overestimated their weapon burning speed by at
least 10 percent, so tests beginning as soon as Sunday will proceed more
slowly than expected, they said Wednesday.

Instead of destroying as many as 40 M-55 rockets an hour in the Anniston
chemical weapons incinerator, the Army expects to destroy 34 to 36 in an
hour, said project manager Tim Garrett.

At that rate, the facility still would outpace the Army's older
incinerator in Utah, which was permitted to burn 33 rockets per hour.

In the trial burns expected to begin Sunday, the Army must prove to
state and federal environmental regulators that it can safely and
efficiently burn weapons for six-hour stretches. Its final permit
numbers will be based on the incinerator's performance in those tests.

During the tests, the liquid and rocket furnaces will be tested for
extraordinarily low levels of more than 200 lethal or dangerous
chemicals such as PCBs, dioxins and furans, said Bob Love, who is
project manager for the Army's contractor operating the site,
Westinghouse Anniston.

Before the trial burn, the Army was allowed to operate the incinerator
for up to 720 hours to carefully ramp up to full speed. Since destroying
its first rocket Aug. 9, the incinerator has processed rockets or nerve
gas for about 510 hours, Garrett said Wednesday.

He said the Army hopes to finish the tests by Thanksgiving.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1067509211236340.xml

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