Last of Sarin munitions ready for destruction

Associated Press - July 5, 2007 2:25 PM ET

HERMISTON, Ore. (AP) - Workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot have prepared the last of the GB (sarin) munitions stockpiled there for destruction this week.

The final load of 155-millimeter artillery shells containing the nerve gas now are under engineering controls and should be destroyed within a week.

The process of destroying the sarin munitions started in September of 2004. The depot has incinerated more than 155,000 bombs, rockets and artillery shells since the project started.

At one point the depot contained about 12% of the nation's supply of chemical weapons, which it is destroying under an international treaty.

The depot will spend about five months in converting facilities to begin destroying weapons containing VX, another nerve agent, then change again to handle mustard gas, a blistering agent that is last remaining chemical weapon at the site.