Mustard agent leak confirmed at depot

By Sun Staff                                                         Monday, August 8, 2005 12:16 PM EDT

Army officials have confirmed the second mustard agent leak at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Madison County in less than three weeks. The agent was detected inside a storage structure containing projectiles.

According to the Blue Grass Chemical Activity, the agent vapor was detected on Saturday using gas chromatographs, which detect chemical agent at extremely low levels.

There is no danger to the community, according to the release.

On July 19, another mustard leak was detected, and workers at the depot are still isolating munitions in that storage structure to determine which projectile is leaking. Both storage igloos contains several thousand projectiles that are enclosed in leakproof containers.

The leaking rounds will have to be found and isolated. The storage buildings are being filtered to ensure that no agent escapes. Toxic chemical workers in protective clothing and masks will enter the structure to determine which of the projectiles is leaking.

The mustard projectiles were first shipped to the Blue Grass Army Depot in 1944.