Army Downplays Sarin Spill in Utah TOOELE, Utah (AP) -- Army officials downplayed the threat posed by the spill of 140 gallons of the deadly nerve agent Sarin at the first chemical weapons incinerator in the continental United States. The spill was the largest reported to date at the incinerator. ``The one thing I want everyone to understand is that it was captured. All safety systems worked,'' said Tim Thomas, project manager for the Tooele Chemical Disposal Facility. ``There was absolutely no risk to the workers or the public.'' The spill happened Sunday afternoon as the liquid was being poured into the incineration chamber. It wound up in a containment sump designed for just such an accident, said plant spokesman Jon Pettebone. A news release said inspectors suspect the spill was caused by the failure of a filter designed to screen out small particles from the furnace. Leaking chemical munitions at the Deseret Chemical Depot, formerly known as the Tooele Army Depot, are nothing new. There are more than 27 million pounds of nerve and blister agent stored in earthen and concrete bunkers sprinkled throughout the depot, located on a vast reservation 50 miles west of Salt Lake. The stockpile represents nearly 42 percent of the country's chemical arsenal. Most of the weapons are relics of the Cold War and many date to World War II. Many of them are leaking. The depot, operated by EG&G Defense Materials Inc. for the Army, routinely reports small leaks detected inside sealed containers which hold the shells, rockets and one-ton bulk containers. The giant $600 million incinerator designed to destroy the weapons was fired up for tests in 1996 and earlier this year was given the go-ahead by state regulators to use its full capacity by early 2000.
