Utah continues to play its quiet -- though enormous -- role in world arms control, the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Board heard Thursday.

Martin Gray, who oversees the Department of Environmental Quality group that keeps tabs on the facilities, said the United States and Russia account for 28,000 tons of chemicals weapons.

That's a sizable share of the world's total inventory of 31,000 tons of chemical weapons. Despite delays, the United States earlier this month was confirmed to have destroyed about 60 percent of its stockpile. Russia has eliminated 30 percent of its stockpile.

About 45 percent of the nation's outdated chemical weapons is being destroyed at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground and Deseret Chemical Depot in Tooele County.

Board member John Newman requested the update to find out "how things are going."

"It would please any American, to see we are doing so well in our obligations," he said.

Chemical demilitarization is covered under the terms of the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention, an arms-control treaty administered by the independent Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The treaty has been signed by 188 nations. Iraq ratified the agreement earlier this year, leaving five nations as non-signatories -- Angola, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Egypt -- and two -- Israel and Myanmar -- as countries that have signed but not ratified it.

Dugway and the depot are just over halfway done with their work under the convention. They are currently destroying GB, VX and mustard agents.

But Gray pointed out that Albania and India are already done.

fahys@sltrib.com