U.S. Army officials have said they intend to begin full-scale chemical weapons incineration at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama by November, the Birmingham News reported Friday (see GSN, Sept. 12).

Chemical incineration at the Anniston facility has reportedly progressed faster than the previous startup of two other Army chemical weapons destruction sites, project managers said Thursday.  In its first seven weeks of burning sarin-filled rockets, the plant has experienced no safety concerns, they added.

Officials are currently destroying rockets at a rate of 24 per hour, and they will increase that to 40 per hour, according to Tim Garrett, the Army’s Anniston project manager.

“We have exceeded expectations as far as the other two facilities,” Garrett said.

In November, the Army also plans to place a sensitive monitor in the exhaust stack of the plant to test for dioxins, furans, PCBs and other dangerous chemical weapons byproducts.

Garrett said that based on previous testing, he expects the plant to easily pass the November monitoring.  During the initial chemical destruction, however, sensors have detected sarin leaks in the incinerator complex, but the Army has claimed that the leaks were not dangerous (Katherine Bouma, Birmingham News, Sept. 19).

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