Sarin vials spill at depot

This story was published Fri, Dec 13, 2002

By Karen Spears Zacharias
Herald Oregon bureau

HERMISTON -- Thirteen vials of diluted sarin nerve agent broke open and spilled Dec. 2 when a lab worker dropped a tray at the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The Army confirmed the incident Thursday after being asked about rumors of the spill.

The tray contained 18 vials of sarin highly diluted with a concentrate of rubbing alcohol. The Army and Oregon state regulators said there never was any risk to the public.

The incident occurred in a highly secure laboratory in K Block, the storage area that contains 3,717 tons of nerve agent. The chemical depot is just outside of Hermiston.

Blood was drawn from two lab workers as a precaution, said Sue Oliver, interim project director for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Oliver said the state has not received the Army's report on the incident, so she was not sure what happened.

"People have clumsy days," she said.

She said the Army followed proper procedures, and regulators will not be issuing a notice of noncompliance.

"Everything worked as it's supposed to. This was not a big deal," Oliver said. "Very, very minute levels of agent were detected. It was well below the amount a worker can breathe in a day."

The lab workers were not wearing protective gear, but Oliver said that's not required for them.

The workers did don gas masks as soon as the vials broke, said Jim Hackett, Army spokesman.

"It was the right precaution to take," he said.

There were no measurable readings of chemical agent following the event, Hackett said. Carbon filters on the laboratory building would have prevented any outside dispersion of nerve agent, he said.

But the event raised concerns for environmentalists.

"The recent incident at Umatilla involving sarin gas is one more example of a facility that is not safe for workers or the public health," said Mari Margil, Sierra Club spokeswoman.

 

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