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Casper, Wyoming |
TOOELE, Utah (AP) - The Deseret Chemical Depot reached a milestone Friday - incinerating the last of the deadly chemical VX and GB agents stored at the west desert facility.
The depot holds the largest chemical weapons stockpile in the United States. Under an international treaty, the U.S. must destroy all chemical weapons and nerve agents by 2012.
The facility is one of eight around the country disposing of the weapons, some of which date back to the 1940s.
In May, the Pentagon recommended closing Deseret Chemical Depot once its munitions mission is complete. That decision is still pending the approval of the Base Realignment and Closure Committee.
Depot staff estimate a final closure of the facility could come in 2012, the target date for the completing the destruction of about 125,000 mustard-gas munitions.
With Friday's milestone, about half of the GB agent in the U.S. has now been destroyed, depot public affairs specialist Alaine Southworth said.
AP-WS-07-31-05 1401EDT