Blue Grass Army Depot Announces Schedule to Dispose of Chemical Weapon

By Ashlee Clark, Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.

Dec. 7–RICHMOND — The disposal of 157 gallons of chemical agent at the Blue Grass Army Depot is scheduled to begin in March, officials said Friday.

The plan to drain and neutralize the contents of three one-ton containers containing GB, also known as sarin, will cost about $1.7 million and will take 80 days to complete, said Kevin Flamm, program manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, the group responsible for the destruction of the country’s chemical weapons stockpiles.

Officials will use a chemical-agent transfer system to transfer GB from its containers to a 20-gallon reactor. The Army will bring the system from Maryland.

The steel containers that hold GB have been deteriorating because of the corrosive nature of the chemical and the decontaminants it is mixed with. On Aug. 27, depot officials detected the largest leak in depot history when a gallon of GB escaped from one container.

The GB, which has been at the depot for decades, originally was stored in a one-ton container. Because the corrosive material was eating away at the bolts on the container, some GB was transferred into the two other containers in 2004. Only the original container leaked, but all three are corroding.

Flamm and Lt. Col. Tom Closs, commander of Blue Grass Chemical Activity, was to present the plans to neutralize GB at the Chemical Destruction Community Advisory Board meeting at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Eastern Kentucky University’s Carl D. Perkins Building.

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