One of the furnaces in the Army's chemical weapons incinerator will begin a nine-day period of testing on non-hazardous materials Saturday.
The tests, known officially as surrogate trial burns, will be an attempt to demonstrate to environmental regulators the maximum rate at which the $1 billion plant can destroy weapons while obeying emissions standards.
The liquid incinerator, designed to burn nerve and blister agent siphoned out of the munitions stored at the Anniston Army Depot, will have to destroy 99.9999 percent of the surrogate chemicals.
A period of shakedown testing earlier this year revealed problems with fiberglass-reinforced plastic piping associated with the facility's pollution-abatement system. That problem, which delayed the trial burn almost two months, has been fixed, according to incinerator spokesman Mike Abrams
"We had to replace some of the piping," Abrams said. "And we were able to fix the fiberglass wrap on others."
Large amounts of data from the tests will be collected and reported to the Alabama Department of Environmental Management within 45 days. ADEM then will have 30 days to comment on the report.
During the tests, the plant's liquid incinerator will consume two chemicals that are more difficult to destroy than the lethal agent. One is used as a drying agent for metals and as a cleaning solvent; the other is used in dyes and lubricants.
Surrogate trial burns for the deactivation furnace system, which was made to burn explosives, fuses, propellant and residual agent, will follow in April.
In September, the incinerator is scheduled to undergo shakedown testing using actual chemical agent. Agent trial burns will follow later in the year.
Preparations for the testing have moved ahead despite pending litigation against the incinerator by Gov. Don Siegelman. Siegelman has asked a federal judge to halt testing of the incinerator until a number of protective measures are provided to the community. A hearing is scheduled for March 21.
