Global Security Newswire

The company destroying U.S. chemical munitions at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah is “regressing back towards pre-July 15, 2002 operational discipline” that forced the facility to shut down for eight months after two workers were exposed to the nerve agent sarin, according to an internal U.S. Army memo reported today by the Salt Lake Tribune (see GSN, March 30).

Dale Ormond, site project manager at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, said his rebuke by memo of contractor EG&G Defense Materials indicated low tolerance for unsafe conditions at the facility.

Ormond said in a letter to the Salt Lake Tribune that his memo lists “a number of operational safety issues and events, none of which posed a significant safety hazard to the workers, the public or the environment.”

Among the problems noted were a 30-gallon agent spill, pumping of 100 gallons of agent to a sump rather than the furnace and facility modifications made without following proper procedures.

“The contractor was not as focused on continued improvement as I had expected,” Ormond said. “I simply sent a strongly worded message, and the contractor has responded appropriately,” he added.

Craig Williams, a member of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group, was critical of the facility’s operations.

“It’s disturbing that after more than seven years of operations in Utah, these kinds of incidents continue to occur,” Williams said. “Perhaps more troubling is that it appears no one understands why they occur or how to fix them,” he added (Dawn House, Salt Lake Tribune, April 7).