Last VX Spray Tanks Set for Destruction at Umatilla

The last of 156 spray tanks containing VX nerve agent stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot are expected to be destroyed next week, the U.S. Army announced (see GSN, Nov. 26).

The tanks, 15 1/2 feet long and designed to be carried by aircraft, contained a total of 106 tons of the nerve agent.  Workers moved the last of the containers from storage yesterday to the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility.

Tank incineration is occurring alongside the ongoing disposal of M55 rockets carrying VX, which began in October and is expected to be finished in February.

Disposal of all VX items at Umatilla, which also include projectiles, land mines and one bulk container, is scheduled for completion in mid-2009.  The plant would then prepare for its final project, elimination of mustard agent.

A nearly three-year project to eliminate munitions loaded with sarin nerve agent ended in July 2007 (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Dec. 20).

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