Work begins to destroy mustard gas containers

April 1st, 2009 @ 8:45pm

STOCKTON, Utah (AP) -- Deseret Chemical Depot workers on Wednesday began destroying thousands of four-inch cartridges containing mustard agent.

The work is part of a larger project to incinerate mustard agent stored for decades at the depot.

Alaine Grieser, a depot spokeswoman, says there are about 62,000 cartridges containing a liquid form of mustard agent that are scheduled to be incinerated by the end of this year.

Utah regulatory officials are observing and analyzing the process to make sure it complies with rules about mercury emissions.

There are about 1,000 other mortars, containing a slightly different form of the agent, that will also be destroyed. That work, though, won't begin until a new mercury filtration and capture system is in place at the depot.

Mustard gas, which is a liquid at room temperature, was first used during World War I. The agent causes severe blisters, internal and external bleeding and strips the mucus membranes from airways. Those exposed to it may have an increased risk of cancer and birth defects.

The U.S. government began destroying weapons at the facility in 1996 to comply with the international Chemical Weapons Convention.

More than 50 percent of the mustard gas stockpile at the depot has been destroyed so far. That chemical agent was in containers other than the four-inch cartridges now being destroyed.