Lady's Human,

Did you read this ?

for immediate release: May 5, 2003


ARMY'S UTAH CHEM WEAPONS BURNER SHUTS DOWN - AGAIN: 3RD TIME IN 38 DAYS


Plant Down 40% of Time Since Restarting - After Eight-Month Suspension of Operations

The Army has shut down its chemical weapons incinerator in Tooele, Utah on Saturday-the third time since operations resumed on March 28th. Resumption followed an eight-month suspension of operations after a serious worker exposure incident in July of 2002 forced the plant to close.

During those eight months, at a cost to taxpayers of more than $72 million, the Army claimed to have done an extensive series of safety and technical "corrective actions" and certified that the facility was ready to resume operating. According to an Army press release issued on the day of re-start , "The critical measures that were identified in the safety improvement program have been incorporated at TOCDF and verified through a number of safety and operational reviews." However, only 10 days after firing up, the plant was shut down for 3 days, then brought back on line for 9 days, then down for 5, back up for 8 days and now down 3 days - - so far, this time.

"This is not a confidence builder," said Craig Williams, director of the anti-incineration Chemical Weapons Working Group (CWWG). "We've been saying for years that this incineration technology is fundamentally flawed and wonder when the Army will finally admit it."

Operations at the Kalama Island incinerator in the Pacific were originally predicted to take 5 years at a cost of $265 Million, and instead took almost 11 years, at a cost of $1.3+ Billion. While in Utah, the disposal of one class of weapon, the GB (Sarin) filled M-55 rocket, was scheduled to take 6 months - instead it took over 4 years.

"At this rate my grandchildren will be fighting these incinerators," said Williams.

The latest shutdown in Utah was due to VX, the deadliest of agents in the U.S. stockpile, being detected in an observation corridor inside the plant. Fortunately, according to an Army spokesperson, there were no one in the area at the time of the incident.

Due to citizen opposition, incineration has been abandoned, in favor of neutralization, at four of the eight chemical weapons sites in the U.S. But three more burners are built - all in very populated areas compared to the Utah desert (Anniston, AL; Pine Bluff, AR; Umatilla, OR).

"With the history of agent releases, worker exposures, technical malfunctions and schedule problems it's beyond reason to continue down this path," said Williams. "All these glitches were predicted by technical experts from the activist side years ago, with many saying that this technology would result in fatalities. We certainly hope the Army wakes up before these experts are proven right, again. This is not a circumstance in which anyone wants to say 'I told you so'."


It seems that Utah did have it's problems with this method of
destruction.