Biological and Chemical Weapons
Test Burns Begin at Umatilla
CBW Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 2 (August 2002)
On 31 July, the Army conducted its initial tests of the first of four incinerators that will be used to destroy nerve agent at Oregon’s Umatilla Chemical Depot. More than 3,700 tons of VX, sarin and mustard gas are stored in bunkers around the facility. The tests were free to move forward once Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber verified that he found communities surrounding the depot sufficiently prepared in the event of an emergency. He did so in early June.
A dry cleaning solvent and a degreasing agent, substances that are tougher to destroy than the poison gases, are used to test the effectiveness and safe operation of the incinerators. Actual burning of nerve agent will not begin until May 2003, if the tests are completed successfully.
Kitzhaber dismissed a last minute change in the destruction method for mustard gas. A possible change to neutralization had been suggested for safety reasons by some local activists and financial concerns by Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment Mario Fiori. Oregon state officials opted not to make the change, citing concerns about the lateness of the change, the quantities of water it would take to accomplish neutralization and the lack of facilities to treat contaminated wastewater afterwards.