ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996                TAG: 9608230082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-1  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: TOOELE ARMY DEPOT, UTAH
SOURCE: Associated Press

U.S. BURNS 1ST OF CHEMICAL WEAPON CACHE INCINERATION OPPONENTS LOSE APPEALS

A decade behind schedule, the Army began destroying the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons Thursday in a high-tech incinerator, starting with nerve-gas rockets that were reduced to ash and molten aluminum.

By day's end, the Army planned to incinerate 60 M55 rockets containing the deadly nerve agent GB - the first weapons to go in a $12 billion effort to eliminate 31,000 tons of mustard and nerve gas packed into 3 million rockets, land mines, bombs, mortars, missiles and canisters stored in eight states.

Congress ordered the Army to destroy all chemical weapons by 1994, but that deadline was extended to 2004 because of changing regulations, environmental challenges, congressional mandates and what the Pentagon acknowledges was poor management.

Even after the burning began, environmental groups continued their fight, claiming the government suppressed or ignored the dangers. Two hours after the first rockets were destroyed, a Utah hazardous-waste board rejected, 5-2, a last-minute plea for a shutdown from opponents of the incinerator.

``We are off on a very positive step on a long trail to eliminating the hazard of chemical weapons,'' said Maj. Gen. Robert Orton, manager for chemical demilitarization at Aberdeen Proving Grounds' Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland. ``We believe this is the safest way to rid the nation of its chemical arsenal.''

The $650 million incinerator was built to destroy the 14,000 tons of chemical agents stored at this sagebrush-covered desert installation 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Tooele's arsenal contains 44percent of the nation's total chemical stockpile.

The burning will continue for 10 to 15 weeks, followed by about six weeks during which Utah officials will analyze emission levels and safety procedures. Then the state will decide whether to issue the Army a permanent license for 24-hour-a-day operations.

The Army hopes to complete the destruction operation at Tooele in 2004.

Much hinges on the success of the incineration at Tooele: Seven other states have smaller shares of the nation's chemical stockpile, and the Army plans to build similar incinerators at Tooele to destroy those weapons.

Chemical weapons also are stored at bases in Pueblo, Colo.; Pine Bluff, Ark.; Umatilla, Ore.; Anniston, Ala.; Richmond, Ky.; Aberdeen, Md., and Newport, Ind.

There is a sense of urgency, since some of the weapons date from World War I and are leaking. At Tooele (pronounced Too-ILL-uh), where the weapons are stored in 208 earth-covered concrete bunkers, 1,510 leaks have been reported since 1967, including 32 this year.

``None of the leaks detected posed a hazard to the public, but it's just not getting any better as it sits out there,'' said Rick Holmes, assistant burn-project manager.

The cache of 1.1million items at Tooele includes 6,000 tons of the World War II-era nerve gas sarin, three kinds of mustard agents and five kinds of nerve agents.

The United States and the former Soviet Union pledged to destroy their chemical arsenals in the late 1980s, deciding that burning the gases was the safest and most efficient method.

The incinerator contains automated equipment that punches holes in the weapons, drains out the chemicals and sends them to five furnaces where temperatures reach 2,700 degrees.

A test incinerator at Johnston Atoll in the Pacific has destroyed more than 2 million pounds of chemical weapons since 1993, and studies found that it released smaller amounts of toxic smokestack emissions than municipal incinerators that burn garbage, the Army said.

However, the Chemical Weapons Working Group of Berea, Ky., the Sierra Club and the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation say the incinerator poses a danger. In particular, they say, it could release cancer-causing dioxin.

Worse, they say, an accident with a major release of nerve gas could kill one of every 10 people within 40 miles. The city of Tooele, 10 miles away, has more than 15,000 residents.

Utah's Solid and Hazardous Waste Advisory Board rejected the groups' request for an injunction to stop the burning, as did U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell last week.

LENGTH: Medium:   83 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. The federal government plans to build more 
          incinerators at Tooele, Utah, to destroy 31,000 tons of deadly 
          chemical weapons. color.