Progress continues to be made in preparing for disposal of chemical weapons stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, two officials said Sunday in a commentary in the Pueblo Chieftain (see GSN, Dec. 4, 2008).
The site in October received the final permit needed for construction of the disposal facility, according to Bechtel Pueblo Team manager Paul Henry and Gary Anderson, Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program manager at Pueblo.
"The landscape of the construction site was altered each and every day [in 2008] as new buildings and structures emerged from the ground," they wrote.
There are now 417 people working on preparing the site to begin chemically neutralizing of 2,611 tons of mustard agent held in 780,000 munitions.
Due to funding and cost issues, disposal operations at Pueblo could begin as late as December 2016 and be completed in 2020, according to reports from late 2008. However, Congress has demanded that all U.S. chemical weapons be eliminated by 2017. A report is expected this month on strategies for meeting the deadline.
The Chemical Weapons Convention requires that the United States finish off its stockpile by April 2012.
The Pueblo officials said they expect to receive word early this year on decisions regarding funding, increasing the pace of work and whether wastewater produced through the neutralization process would be treated on-site or shipped to another location (Henry/Anderson, Pueblo Chieftain/Chemical Weapons Working Group, Jan. 4).