THERE GOES THE LAST OF
ITS KIND
NATION'S LAST SARIN BOMB DESTROYED
Published: June 13, 2006
By The Hermiston Herald
| The
very last GB-filled MC-1 bomb exited the furnace on Friday, June 9 at
about 6:30 a.m. The 750-pound bomb contained about 220 pounds of
liquid
sarin nerve agent. The bomb was the very last of its kind in the U.S. Photo courtesy of UMCDF |
 |
The last GB sarin bomb in the nation's stockpile has been destroyed at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF), 3,000 shipments of munitions from the UMCD's storage area to the UMCDF for processing, and the final GB sarin agent trial burn (ATB) has been completed for the last of the disposal facility's four furnaces.
The final 750-pound MC-1 bomb, containing about 220 pounds of liquid sarin nerve agent, was destroyed Friday, June 9. This marked not only the end of more than 2,400 MC-1 bombs originally stored at the UMCDF, but also the final destruction of the nation's entire bomb stockpile. The United States originally had about 13,500 GB-filled bombs.
The final 18 MC-1 bombs processed last week were leaking munitions that had previously been placed inside overpack containers to safely contain nerve agent. Special handling was required by a two-person crew dressed in protective suits as they unpacked each leaking bomb.
No more bombs of any kind are stored at the depot. On May 18, the last 27 of the depots MK-94 500-pound sarin bombs were safely destroyed. The depot continues to securely store rockets, artillery projectiles, land mines, spray tanks and bulk containers awaiting disposal.
Depot chemical operations storage workers delivered the 3,000th enhanced on-site (EONC) shipment, which contained four MC-1 bombs, to the UMCDF Thursday June 1. This represents about 40 percent of the expected 7,500 deliveries needed to move the entire depot's stockpile to UMCDF.
Each EONC can hold thousands of pounds of munitions and chemical agent. They are designed to safely resist impacts, punctures, crushing and fire. EONCs also prevent release of chemical agent into the atmosphere in the unlikely event a munition should develop a leak during movement.
The final permit-required, GB-agent trial burn was completed for liquid incinerator 2 (LIC-2) on June 2. If approved in the state review process with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, this will mean all GB-agent trial burns are competed -- a major effort, covering several years, to prepare and prove the UMCDF's four furnaces for chemical agent disposal.
"Our very capable storage and disposal teams continue to get the job done safely," said Don Barclay, the Army's UMCDF site project manager. "They are fully dedicated to completing the mission of safely eliminating all chemical munitions in the Umatilla stockpile."
"Moving and eliminating the last of the bombs further reduces the risk of stored chemical munitions," said Lt. Col. Donna Rutten, UMCD commander. "Nearby communities and the environment are now just that much safer with the bombs gone."
After completing the MC-1 bomb campaign, the UMCDF resumed processing M55 GB rockets. Nearly 71,000 of the depot's M55 rockets have been destroyed.
"I'm hopeful all GB rockets will be gone in less than three months," Barclay added.
Disposal operations began at the UMCDF in September of 2004.
Back-up generators provided power to the depot and the Umatilla
Chemical Disposal Facility after gusts of up to 86 mph and wind speeds
over 55 mph. No injuries were reported and the UMCDF was not processing
rockets at the time of the power outage. No chemical weapons were being
transported to the facility either. According to Army spokesperson Jim Hackett, several power poles and
power
lines went down during the storm, causing the outage. Crews from
Umatilla Electric Cooperative were on site, repairing the downed lines
and poles. "They are still working on power lines," Hackett said. "Normally,
our
power comes from both McNary and Boardman. The Boardman power lines are
being
fed from McNary." Hackett said it would be two to five days before the power lines
would
return to normal on the depot. Damage assessment is being done,
however, inspection
of the storage igloos show no damage. Lt. Col. Donna Rutten, commander
of
the depot, says the igloos are built to withstand the wind the area
receives. "The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility and the chemical
storage structures are designed to withstand such storms," Rutten said.
"Safety and security remain our top priority, and chemical storage
operations and munitions processing will not be resumed until the
necessary criteria for safe operations is met." Hackett says the UMCDF did lose their back-up generator capability;
however
power was restored within 45 minutes. UMCDF personnel were masked as a
precaution,
despite the fact no agent was being processed at the time and
monitoring
did not indicate agent was present in the facility. UMCDF
administrative
personnel were evacuated to a pre-determined depot staging area.
HERMISTON -- Power was lost at the Umatilla Chemical Depot during the
powerful wind storm that hit the area Friday afternoon.