The final chemical agent demilitarization campaign is under way at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon, the U.S. Army announced yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 29).
Transport of bulk containers filled with mustard blister agent from storage to the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility began at 10 a.m. yesterday. Workers at the plant are expected to spend between one and two years incinerating the material.
"Our experienced crews are dedicated to safe and secure munitions movement and delivery to the disposal plant," Lt. Col. Bob Stein, depot commander, said in a press release. "Deliveries have gone very well during the 12 previous munitions campaigns, but risk remains until the last ton container is gone."
Disposal operations at the depot began in September 2004. Previous campaigns resulted in the elimination of sarin and VX nerve agents contained in 217,969 munitions, the Army said (U.S. Army release, June 4).
International officials completed a visit to the depot yesterday to confirm that the site's chemical-weapon destruction work complied with the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Officials with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons toured the disposal facility and met with OPCW inspectors stationed at the depot, the organization said in a release (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release, June 5).