Colorado plant destroys quarter of old chemical weapons
Officials say about one-fourth of the mustard agent contained in decades-old shells stored at a Colorado chemical depot has been destroyed.
The Pueblo Chieftain reports the obsolete chemical weapons are being dismantled and destroyed at the Pueblo Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.
The acting site project manager, Walton Levi, said in a statement this week that a quarter of the 2,600 tons (about 2,360 metric tons) of mustard agent was destroyed.
The Pueblo plant began operation in September 2016 and has destroyed 112,400 chemical projectiles.
The facility had a stockpile of 780,000 projectiles.
Officials with the Pentagon’s Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives plan to bring static detonation chambers to the facility to incinerate problematic rounds.
