HERMISTON -- A monitoring crew at the Umatilla Chemical Depot detected trace amounts of mustard blister gas inside a depot igloo during routine monitoring Tuesday.
The igloo stores the chemical agent in ton containers.
A team of workers will enter the igloo to isolate the suspected container that has leaked and determine what to do, depot officials said Tuesday afternoon. A powered filtration system has been installed in the igloo as a precaution in addition to its passive filtration system that prevents mustard gas from escaping the igloo.
The amount of mustard gas detected was too small to be harmful to the public or the environment, depot officials said. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility plans to start incinerating the mustard gas this spring.
Similar stories:
90 percent mark hit at depot incineration plant
90 percent mark hit at depot incineration plant
HERMISTON -- The incineration plant at the Umatilla Chemical Depot has destroyed 90 percent of the mustard chemical weapon agent stored at the depot.
Wednesday, the 2,371st ton container of mustard agent was destroyed in the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility to hit the 90 percent disposal mark for the agent.
The mustard agent is the last of the chemical munitions remaining at the site. Depot officials expect the final mustard agent to be destroyed in November, a little more than seven years after the first chemical munition was destroyed Sept. 8, 2004.
Umatilla depot to deliver last chemical containers
Umatilla depot to deliver last chemical containers
HERMISTON -- The Umatilla Chemical Depot plans to take its final containers of chemical weapon agent to the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility on Oct. 20.
A ceremony for workers is planned that day to mark delivery of the last mustard ton containers to the incineration facility.
The final shipment of chemical weapons will occur 70 years after the depot's formation Oct. 14, 1941. The depot received its first conventional weapons that year, and chemical weapons were brought to the depot in 1962 and have been stored there since.
Army says Umatilla depot's chemical weapons mission done
Army says Umatilla depot's chemical weapons mission done
HERMISTON -- The last container that once held chemical weapon agent at the Umatilla Chemical Depot has been incinerated.
The final ton container that held liquid mustard blister agent came out of the metal parts furnace at 9:17 a.m. Tuesday, ending the depot's mission to store surplus chemical weapons.
The 20,000-acre depot just south of the Washington and Oregon border once stored 12 percent of the nation's stockpile of chemical weapons, including nerve and mustard agent.
Umatilla Chemical Depot's mission success
Umatilla Chemical Depot's mission success
HERMISTON -- Within a matter of days, the risk of a chemical weapons accident at the Umatilla Chemical Depot should be gone.
Sirens for a chemical weapons emergency will sound next week for their final monthly test in southern Benton, Umatilla and Morrow counties.
The household tone alert radios distributed for chemical weapons emergencies soon will be good only for weather warnings. All the home shelter-in-place emergency kits with rolls of plastic, duct tape and scissors won't be needed to seal up windows in case of a chemical weapons accident.
Depot gets OK to raise rate of liquid incineration
Depot gets OK to raise rate of liquid incineration
HERMISTON -- The incineration plant at the Umatilla Chemical Depot has been given approval to increase its liquid incinerator processing rate.
The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has agreed to let the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility increase the processing rate from 75 percent to
100 percent of the feed rate demonstrated during the mustard weapons agent trial burn.
The authorization to increase the feed rate will make the plant a little more efficient, said Steven Warren, project manager for URS, which operates the plant.
Print
Email Story
