Chemical depot test burning off to hot start

This story was published Wed, Jul 31, 2002

By Karen Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON -- There was something in the air at the Umatilla Chemical Depot on Tuesday during the first test run of the incinerator. But not to worry -- it was just raw adrenaline.

"There was a sense of excitement among the workers. This day is a milestone for the Army, the community and the demilitarization program," said Ron Garner, project manager for Washington Demilitarization Co.

"This was a very, very successful day for us," Garner declared. "This is something we've all be working very hard for. It's the first major step ... and the first step is always the hardest."

Garner said the test burns went off just as planned, without any last-minute glitches that might delay the second round of trials scheduled for today.

Garner's company was hired by the Army to destroy 3,717 tons of deadly nerve agent stored at Umatilla. The company also holds contracts to destroy the Army's stockpiles at Anniston, Ala., Pine Bluff, Ark., and already has completed destruction of nerve agent at Johnston Atoll, 750 miles south of Hawaii.

Workers at Umatilla on Tuesday tested the function of the first liquid incinerator by burning 97 pounds of perchloroethylene, a dry cleaning solvent, and 105 pounds of trichlorobenzene, a degreasing agent, at temperatures reaching 2,700 degrees.

The solvents were pumped from holding tanks directly into the incinerator through pipes, explained Bill Meader, trial burns manager.

The test materials are more difficult to destroy than nerve agent, making them a good test product for how efficient the incinerator is, he said.

Meader estimated that the industrial solvent was pumped at 50 percent of maximum capacity for approximately 3 hours Tuesday morning.

"We only did about half the feed rate because this is rehearsal for the real thing," Meader said. The amount of test materials pumped into the incinerator will be increased gradually over the next few months as tests continue.

He said Tuesday's test data would be evaluated before continuing further test burns of the same trial materials today.

Army officials do not anticipate burning nerve agent until May. All the VX, GB and mustard gas at Umatilla is scheduled to be destroyed by 2012, said Gary Anderson, deputy site manager for the Army's Chemical Demilitarization program.

Congress ratified a treaty in 1997 that called for the destruction of the nation's store of chemical weapons. The initial completion date established by the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty called for the stockpile to be destroyed by 2007, but the deadline was extended five years, Anderson said.

"I'm very confident Umatilla will be able to achieve (destruction) by the 2012 date," Anderson said. "The test today went very, very well."

The burns are expected to continue throughout the remainder of the year as the company's three other incinerators are brought online.

 

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