Final VX missile is destroyed at Deseret Depot

The last VX missile was burned at Deseret Chemical Depot on Monday.

The Army's chemical weapons incinerator near Stockton, Tooele County, has now destroyed all rockets in the Utah stockpile that carried GB or VX nerve agent.

This eliminates the greatest risk to people living or commuting nearby, according to the base. An explosion involving a release of chemical agent from the stockpile was thought to pose the greatest risk to the community.

Meanwhile, on the same day but at a different Army base in Tooele County — Dugway Proving Ground — a nerve agent monitor reported low levels of GB vapor. Paula Nicholson, Dugway spokeswoman, said workers were calibrating equipment when an alarm sounded, indicating levels substantially below harmful concentrations.

Three employees went to an aid station and received medical tests. Their blood samples showed no indication of exposure. An investigation is continuing, Nicholson said.

Dugway's Melvin Bushnell Materiel Test Facility, where the incident occurred, researches detection systems to warn of chemical attack and looks for ways to improve protective clothing. It uses small quantities of nerve agent in its experiments.

Deseret Chemical Depot, on the other hand, is where chemical arms were stockpiled and are being destroyed in the Army's $1 billion incinerator. Before the plant began working in 1996, the stockpile amounted to more than 13,617 tons of nerve and blister agent.

Included in the total were 28,945 M55 rockets, each carrying 10 pounds of either GB or VX nerve agent.

In March 2002, the incinerator completed its destruction of GB, which had been in the form of projectiles, rockets, airborne spray tanks, bombs and storage containers. That left blister agent and VX nerve agent yet to destroy. The VX campaign began March 28, 2003, tackling rockets first.

The depot stored about 1,356 tons of VX, with 39,660 pounds of it in M55 rockets. Altogether, the depot had 3,960 of the VX-loaded rockets.

With the destruction of the last VX rocket, Col. Peter Cooper, depot commander, said a great milestone was passed for workers in the storage area and incinerator. It also is a milestone for the nation, he said in a press statement.

"It shows the world we're serious about eliminating the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons and protecting Americans from an aging chemical stockpile," Cooper said.