United States:  More Rockets Leak Nerve Agent at Anniston

Scientists verified Thursday that five M55 rockets were leaking the nerve agent GB at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama, officials said last week.

Workers detected a leak in a storage bunker during a routine inspection Tuesday.  They identified the leaking rockets and planned to move them to a separate bunker, the Birmingham News reported Friday.  All leaking munitions at the depot are now stored in two bunkers, according to the News (see GSN, July 11).

No workers were exposed to nerve agent, and the leaks posed no threat to the surrounding community, Anniston Chemical Activity official Cathy Coleman said.

Workers have discovered 743 GB rockets with leaks since 1982, according to the News.

“They’re not all going to become leakers tomorrow because we have thousands of them,” Coleman said.  “But it’s just a trend that we’re watching and recognizing that’s going to grow and grow, and our workforce is aging and aging ... There aren’t a lot of people clamoring at the gates to work with these things.  It’s kind of a dying ... skill.”

The Anniston depot is slated to begin burning the facility’s chemical weapons in its incinerator later this year (Darryal Ray, Birmingham News, July 19).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP