Chemical Weapons Incineration Resumes at Tooele

Chemical munitions destruction resumed yesterday afternoon at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah after officials concluded that an alarm on Saturday was set off by an “interferent” rather than a chemical agent leak, Deseret Chemical Depot officials said in a press release (see GSN, July 21).

One of two liquid incinerators used to destroy chemical agents was the probable source of the interferent, the press release states. That furnace was shut down while the investigation continues.

“While we have not yet identified the interferent, we’re absolutely certain the substance is not chemical agent,” said Gary McCloskey, general manager of facility contractor EG&G Defense Materials Inc. “We’ve been working closely with the U.S. Army, the Center[s] for Disease Control [and Prevention] and Utah regulatory officials, and the state concurs with our decision to resume operations while we continue to investigate the interferent source,” he added (Deseret Chemical Depot release, July 21).

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