NEWS — LOCAL
Monday, December 22, 2003
Depot crew neutralizes
Sarin leak
HERMISTON — The third
reading in two weeks of GB Sarin chemical agent vapor detected outside of
an Umatilla Chemical Depot storage igloo was reported Saturday.
Depot officials stressed that there were no injuries and no danger
to the public or environment.
A chemical operations crew found a puddle of liquid GB Sarin chemical
agent inside a storage igloo used to store 750-pound bombs shortly after
noon Saturday, according to a Depot news release.
One of the 750-pound bombs was isolated as the source of the leak.
The bomb was placed inside a large container within the structure, and the
puddle of agent was decontaminated.
The same structure was the scene of the two outside detections of
GB Sarin on Dec. 8 and Dec. 17, according to Depot officials.
As with the other incidents, the leak Saturday was confined to the
Depot’s nerve agent storage area. Those are the only igloos that still contain
weapons on the Depot.
The Depot crisis management team was assembled at the depot operations
center Saturday and the Depot notified emergency operations centers in Umatilla
and Morrow counties, Benton County in Washington and the Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
So-called “leakers,” chemical weapons detected to be leaking vapor,
are not unusual at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. Many of the weapons are 60
years old and the munitions are deteriorating. But all the weapons are housed
in protective bunkers that are monitored regularly, and until the past two
weeks all the leaks have been contained in the igloos.
The Umatilla Chemical Depot stores about 12 percent of the nation’s
chemical weapons supply. An incineration complex has been completed there
and is undergoing testing. Incineration is expected to begin next year.