United States:  Army Rejects Neutralization Facility at Anniston Depot

The U.S. Army has decided not to build a neutralization facility at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama, choosing instead to rely solely on incineration as the means to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles stored there, the Anniston Star reported yesterday (see GSN, June 23).

In May, officials in Calhoun County, Ala., had requested that the Army build a neutralization facility to serve as a backup to the depot’s incinerator.  In denying the request, Col. Nancy Ray, an Army official involved in the chemical weapons disposal effort, said it would take five years to construct and staff such a facility and that neutralization facilities have not been found to be safer than incinerators (Nathan Solheim, Anniston Star, July 8).

Pueblo Citizen Advisory Group Examines Offsite Disposal Options

Meanwhile, an advisory group in Pueblo, Colo., yesterday discussed whether to support a plan to contain the entire mustard gas disposal process at the Pueblo Chemical Deport or to agree to some offsite shipments, according to the Pueblo Chieftain (see GSN, July 25, 2002).

The acceleration options working group of the Citizens’ Advisory Commission yesterday discussed six alternatives, prepared by the consulting firm FOCIS Associates, to destroying the end refuse generated by the mustard gas disposal process at the depot, according to the Chieftain.  The group rejected three ideas because of costs and safety concerns — the shipment of partially decontaminated metals offsite for further processing and two proposals to ship explosives removed from the munitions offsite. 

The group agreed to further examine a proposal to recycle wooden pallets offsite, the Chieftain reported.  The group also agreed that propellant removed from the chemical munitions be transported to another location for final disposal.  The group did not discuss a third proposal — the shipment of neutralized agent to a New Jersey disposal site — before it adjourned.

The working group is expected to formalize its recommendations during a meeting scheduled to be held today, the Chieftain reported (Gail Pitts, Pueblo Chieftain, July 9).

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