But the incinerator was not yet running, a Works and Engineering official told The Royal Gazette .

Mr.

Stephen Hunt, the engineer in charge of the $70-million project, said workers began "drying out the inside of the boilers'' on the weekend.

"What you would be seeing there is essentially steam,'' Mr Hunt said of the white smoke that appeared on Saturday.

So far, only "cold'' testing of the incinerator has been completed, and waste has yet to burn inside its oven. Mr. Hunt said drying the inside of the boilers was a prelude to the incinerator's "hot'' commissioning. He could not say when that would happen.

"We don't have waste coming into the building yet,'' he said. "We're preparing it to accept waste.'' Mr. Hunt said the cold testing revealed "no major problems'' with the incinerator on Palmetto Road in Devonshire. "There have been minor problems here and there -- nothing untoward.'' The incinerator is expected to be in full operation by the summer.