Last of chemical rockets destroyed at Umatilla
Depot
Sunday,
August 6, 2006
HERMISTON, Ore. -- If all goes well the last of more
than 91,000 GB-filled M55 rockets will be destroyed Sunday at the Umatilla
Chemical Depot.
AP The Umatilla Chemical Depot in eastern Oregon.
With all the rockets gone there is a 91 percent risk
reduction to the public, depot spokesman Bruce Henrickson told the East
Oregonian newspaper of Pendleton.
The rockets are being burned in a high-temperature
oven built especially to get rid of the chemical weapons at the depot, which
housed about 12 percent of the national stockpile when the incineration program
started in August 2004.
Henrickson said there is an atmosphere of
"professional restrained excitement" at the depot. "We're not
done until we're done, but it's a historic milestone for the depot and the
community," Henrickson said.
He said the destruction of the remaining rockets could
be postponed if anything went wrong, such as gate repairs on the processing
line that stopped the burning of the rockets and warheads for several hours on
Friday.
Henrickson said the destruction of the remaining
chemical weapons won't be completed for years.
He said the rockets carry a "triple whammy"
because they are self-propelled, contain nerve agent and contain explosives.
By contrast a bomb has two out of the three since
isn't self-propelled.
The rockets are about 6 feet long and can travel 6
miles. Each contains 9-10 pounds of GB nerve agent and was designed to be fired
from a shoulder mounted rocket launcher.
Unexpected fires in parts of the incinerator have
stopped destruction briefly at times but Henrickson says there have been no
major accidents.
The United States is under treaty obligations to
destroy the 7.4 million pounds of chemical agent in bombs, artillery shells,
rockets and other weapons at the depot by 2012.
Cost of the project has been estimated at $2.4
billion.