Depot finishes off 155 mm VX artillery projectiles
The East Oregonian
The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility completed its 155 mm diameter VX nerve agent artillery projectile campaign late Friday night.
VX may be the deadliest man-made substance to touch. Workers handling VX-filled munitions have to wear appropriate protective clothing and carry packets of injections of adrenaline in case of VX exposure.
Workers destroyed the last of 32,313 VX artillery projectiles at about 11 p.m. Friday in the plant's metal parts furnace. The depot started the campaign with the first movement of munitions on March 20 and completed it ahead of schedule.
Depot workers will now reconfigure the disposal facility to handle 8-inch diameter projectiles. Workers at the plant disposed of a sarin-filled 8-inch diameter artillery projectiles or "shells" during a campaign last year.
It should take about a month to reconfigure portions of the plant to begin processing this different size projectile.
The Washington Defense Group built and operates the disposal plant for the Army. Doug Hamrick, project general manager for the Army contractor said progress has been good and the Washington Defense Group will continue "our careful and deliberate work to finish the job."
Three individual types of munitions remain in the Oregon stockpile awaiting destruction. When the depot destroys the last of the 8-inch VX projectiles, the plant will prepare for processing VX land mines, which are the final VX munitions in the depot stockpile.
The depot should complete the entire VX agent disposal campaign by early 2009.
The plant will then change over to process HD mustard blister agent stored in bulk containers, also known as "ton containers." HD mustard will be the third and final type of agent disposal campaign at Umatilla, and its eventual elimination will mark the end of the Oregon chemical weapons stockpile.
The first stockpiled chemical munitions disposal campaign in Oregon began on Sept. 7, 2004, when crews moved sarin-filled rockets from depot storage to the disposal facility. The disposal plant destroyed the rockets the next day. Since that time, the following munitions disposal campaigns have been successfully and safely completed:
• 4 sarin-filled, bulk containers or "ton containers" completed Jan. 5, 2006.
• 27 sarin-filled 500-pound bombs completed May 18, 2006.
• 2,418 sarin-filled 750-pound bombs completed June 9, 2006.
• 91,442 sarin-filled rockets and warheads completed Aug. 9, 2006.
• 3,752 sarin-filled 8-inch diameter artillery projectiles completed Jan. 3, 2007.
• 47,406 sarin-filled 155 mm diameter artillery projectiles completed July 8, 2007.
• One VX bulk container or "ton container" completed Nov. 26, 2007.
• 156 VX aircraft-mounted spray tanks completed Dec. 24, 2007.
• 14,519 VX rockets and warheads completed Jan. 23, 2008.
The Army has stored chemical munitions at the depot since the 1960s. The Umatilla Chemical Depot will close per the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure law.
When the depot's destruction mission is complete, the Army or contractors will thoroughly clean and take apart the disposal plant according to environmental permits. |
