The U.S. will be destroying its largest remaining stockpile of chemical artillery shells. The Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado plans to neutralize 2,600 tons of mustard agent starting in March.
A Chemical Weapons Convention deadline was set in 1997 to destroy the weapons by 2012. The U.S., Russia, Libya and Iraq have all missed the deadline.
The cost of safely destroying the weapons has slowed down the process. Libya expects to finish by 2016 and Russia in 2020.
The Army plans to use two methods to eliminate the stockpile. One method is by using an explosion chamber to tear open the shells and neutralize the mustard agent with chemicals. The other is by running a $4.5 billion plant that will dismantle the shells, neutralize the agent in water and add bacteria to convert remaining chemicals into a product that can then be disposed of at a hazardous waste dump. Read more...
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