The U.S. Army began using a mobile unit Tuesday to destroy old chemical-warfare munitions at the Pine Bluff Arsenal, officials said.

The old munitions, recovered during the 1980s, have been stored at the installation. Among the items due for destruction are 4.2-inch mortar rounds and German Traktor rockets, according to a news release from the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project.

Operators seal munitions inside the stainless-steel mobile unit, called an Explosive Destruction System. An "explosive charge" opens the munitions to allow access to the chemicals inside, which are then neutralized within the unit.

The unit has been used to destroy more than 600 items at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Commerce City, Colo.; the former Camp Sibert in Gadsden, Ala.; Spring Valley in Washington, D.C.; and Dover Air Force Base, Del.

The items are not a part of the chemical weapons stockpile at the base, which is also being destroyed.

This story was published Thursday, June 15, 2006