U.S. Army Asks to Heat Mustard Agent at Umatilla

The U.S. Army has asked the Oregon Environmental Quality Department for a permit modification that would allow heating units at the Umatilla Chemical Depot to keep mustard agent in a liquid state, the East Oregonian reported Tuesday (see GSN, Feb. 24).

The agent becomes a solid at around 58 degrees Fahrenheit. In that state, the agent is difficult to sample or drain from storage containers.

The heating systems warm the air in storage igloos, eventually raising the temperature of the agent within the containers.

The heating systems have been successfully tested at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah, said Dennis Murphey, chief of the department’s chemical demilitarization program (East Oregonian, Feb. 28).

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