Shells filled with VX nerve agent destroyed

The Army has finished its campaign to destroy more than 53,000 artillery shells filled with VX nerve gas. But that doesn't mean the chemical weapons incinerator near Stockton, Tooele County, is ready to close.

Hundreds of chemical spray tanks and mines remain in the inventory of Deseret Chemical Depot, says spokesman Chuck Sprague. In fact, while the depot is nearing the halfway mark in terms of tonnage destroyed in the multiyear project, it still houses more of the deadly material than any other stockpile.

Earlier, the $1 billion incinerator destroyed all the GB nerve gas weapons. Then it burned up M-55 rockets and ton containers, both filled with VX, a substance so deadly that a drop on the skin will kill.

The last of the 155-mm artillery projectiles was destroyed Monday morning at the plant, technically termed the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. It was a major milestone, said Ted Ryba, acting site project manager, according to a Deseret Chemical Depot press release.

"There are no more nerve agent-filled projectiles in the Deseret stockpile," Ryba said. "With more than 50,000 VX projectiles destroyed in the recent campaign, combined with the more than three-quarters of a million GB projectiles destroyed earlier, we've taken another big step in completing our mission and making our community a safer place."

Sprague told the Deseret Morning News that the spray tanks are a bit smaller than the ton containers. Each holds about 160 gallons of VX.

A similar technique will be used to destroy the spray tanks as with ton containers. Using robotic equipment, workers punch a hole in the tank and stick a pipe in. The pipe drains nearly all of the agent, which is burned in the liquid incinerator.

The container itself goes to the metal parts furnace, where the superheated environment destroys any residual nerve agent. The output: clean scrap.

By next spring, the rest of the depot's VX munitions are expected to be destroyed. According to the release, preparations are continuing for destruction of weapons filled with mustard (blister) agent.

Final work activities are being planned by the Army and the plant's contractors, EG&G Defense Materials Inc., adds the release. These are tasks such as destroying accumulated waste from chemical disposal, "and, ultimately, facility closure."

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