UMATILLA CHEMICAL DEPOT, Hermiston, Ore. - Umatilla Chemical Depot (UMCD) storage workers began delivering HD mustard-filled bulk containers or "ton containers" to the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF) at 10 a.m. this morning. This marks the official start of the last individual chemical munitions disposal campaign at the depot.
"Our experienced crews are dedicated to safe and secure munitions movement and delivery to the disposal plant," said Lt. Col. Bob Stein, depot commander. "Deliveries have gone very well during the 12 previous munitions campaigns, but risk remains until the last ton container is gone."
The HD mustard disposal campaign is expected to take between one and two years to complete.
"We begin this final campaign with the same dedication to safe disposal of chemical munitions that we've had since the first disposal campaign that began in 2004," said Mike Strong, the Army's site project manager at UMCDF. "Safety of workers, community and environment has always been and remains our highest priority."
"As always, we'll focus on environmental compliance and safety during the mustard campaign," said Bob Dikeman, project general manager for Washington Defense Group of URS Corporation's EG&G Division. Washington Defense Group built and operates the disposal plant for the Army. "We expect to continue to meet the high standards of state oversight officials."
A safe, slow and deliberate startup of mustard agent processing is planned, similar to past campaigns. The mustard ton containers hold bulk agent only and don't have any explosive components. Destruction of the last munitions in the Umatilla stockpile that contained explosives-VX nerve agent land mines-was completed on Nov. 5, 2008.
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