June 19, 2000

State regulators issued conclusions today about last months' accidental release of nerve agent from the Army's Tooele County incinerator. And they're demanding changes before the Army can re-start the plant.

Environment Specialist John Hollenhorst reports from the Cannon Health Building.

The report issued here today is the first of three we can expect in the next few days. Others will be from the Centers for Disease Control and the Army itself.

This one is from state Utah regulators who oversee daily operations.

By all accounts the leak of sarin nerve agent last May 8th was extremely tiny. The state now says it could have been about twice the amount the Army originally announced, about two tiny droplets of sarin instead of one.

But it apparently dissipated harmlesly after going up the stack.

But the release caused a big flap because nerve agent was never supposed to get out of the plant.

State investigators now say the problem started at a point in the process just after rockets containing nerve agent and rocket propellant jammed up on a feed chute leading to a furnace.

SCOTT ANDERSON/UTAH BUREAU OF SOLID & HAZARDOUS WASTE: "HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE PROCEDURES USED TO DISLODGE THE JAM, WE WOULD NOT HAVE SEEN THIS OCCUR."

Workers used a high-pressure water jet to clear the jam.

It flashed into steam, upsetting temperature and pressure conditions. That triggered a long sequence of mechanical and human procedural errors, and the plant's first known release of nerve agent into the atmosphere.

Criitics are not surprised. They say a stream of reports and a parade of whistleblowers have been raising concerns about the jammed chute issue at least since the early 1990's.

JASON GROENEWOLD/FAMILIES AGAINST INCINERATOR RISK: "THE ARMY HAS KNOWN ABOUT THIS PROBLEM FOR YEARS AND HAS INTENTIONALLY AVOIDED CORRECTING THIS PROBLEM, WHICH WOULD HAVE PREVENTED THE RELEASE FROM OCCURRING. AND THAT'S JUST REALLY UNACCEPTABLE."

The state is demanding 10 changes in training, procedure and possibly design, before the incinerator can re-open.

SCOTT ANDERSON/UTAH BUREAU OF SOLID & HAZARDOUS WASTE: "WELL, WE'VE ASKED THAT THEY REVIEW THE DESIGN OF THAT FEED CHUTE SYSTEM. AND IF, IN FACT, THEY DETERMINE THERE ARE THINGS THEY CAN DO, THEN THEY WILL HAVE TO DO THOSE BEFORE THEY CAN PROCESS AGAIN."

But if the feed chute can't be effectively redesigned, the state may allow the plant to re-start.

They say it may be possible to solve the problem with training or procedural changes.

Critics say that shows the state isn't really serious about getting tough with the Army.