Army completes destruction of VX-loaded shells in Anniston

Posted by Katherine Bouma
May 24, 2008

The last VX-loaded artillery shell rolled into the chemical-waste incinerator at the Anniston Army Depot and was safely destroyed today, a spokesman for the project said.

Finishing the 139,581 VX shells puts the Army almost halfway through its chemical weapons destruction program at the Anniston incinerator complex, with 48 percent of the stockpile now gone.

The United States has committed to an international treaty to destroy its nerve gas weapons from the Cold War. The Army began destroying nerve agent rockets, artillery and other weapons from the Anniston Army Depot in August 2003.

The weapons were 50 years old or more and useless. Some of them were corroded and leaking small amounts of nerve agent and would have been unsafe to transport or in combat.

E-mail: kbouma@bhamnews.com