Treaty Issues in Depth
U.S. Progress on Chemical Weapons Destruction
Article IV, paragraph 6 of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) states that “destruction [of a State Party’s chemical weapons stockpile] shall begin not later than two years after this Convention enters into force for it and shall finish not later than 10 years after entry into force of this Convention.” Since the CWC entered into force on April 29, 1997, the destruction deadline was set for April 29, 2007 for the Convention’s original ratifying States Parties, which included the United States. At the 11th session of the Conference of States Parties (CSP) of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in 2006, the CSP accepted the recommendations of the OPCW’s Executive Council (EC), which provided revised deadlines for those States Parties unable to reach the original Convention deadline. For the United States and Russia, the destruction deadline was extended to April 29, 2012.
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The United States began destroying its chemical weapons in 1990, and has destroyed 67 percent of its stockpile to date, including 100 percent at three storage facilities. However, due to the great size of the stockpile and the difficult and expensive processes of destruction, it is not expected that the United States will meet the 2012 deadline. In 2007, Congress approved a measure that imposed a national deadline of 2017 on disposing of all chemical weapons stockpiles across the country.
Of the nine originally declared chemical weapons storage facilities in the United States, six currently store chemical weapons. As noted above, three facilities have completed the destruction of their stockpiles. Four facilities are at various stages of incinerating their stockpiles. Two facilities that will use alternative methods of destruction have not yet begun the process, but construction of the destruction facilities is underway.
Below is a synopsis of the destruction activities at each of the nine U.S. chemical weapons storage facilities.
JACADS
The Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) was the Army’s first full-scale chemical weapons disposal facility, built to eliminate the chemical weapons stored on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The first incinerator began operating at Johnston Atoll in 1990, and operations were completed in 2000. In total, more than four million pounds of sarin, VX, and mustard agent were destroyed, 412,798 munitions were eliminated, and the disposal facility was dismantled. The facility was demolished in 2003 and the atoll was transferred from military control to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Army worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to close the facility according to environmental standards, and the EPA formally accepted the closure of JACADS in September 2009.
ABCDF
The Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland formerly served as the center for the U.S. Army’s production and research in chemical warfare. It merged with the Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1971, and became the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground. The mustard agent stored at Edgewood constituted about five percent of the total U.S. chemical stockpile. The Aberdeen Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (ABCDF) was constructed in 2002, and agent destruction operations began there in April 2003. The mustard agent was destroyed by neutralization followed by final treatment at a commercial toxic waste facility. Destruction operations were completed in February 2006, and ABCDF's permit was officially closed in June 2007.
NECDF
The Newport Army Ammunition Plant in Newport, Indiana, later known as the Newport Chemical Depot, was the site of all VX production during the time of the U.S. chemical weapons program. After the chemical weapons program was terminated, 1,270 tons of VX agent continued to be stored there in sturdy steel containers, constituting about four percent of the total U.S. chemical stockpile. No munitions were stored at the site. The Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (NECDF) was completed in June 2003, and the Army began agent disposal operations in May 2005, using a neutralization process followed by final treatment at a commercial toxic waste facility. Destruction of the VX agent was completed in August 2008, and the facility is currently in the closure process. The Newport Chemical Depot Reuse Authority is scheduled to vote on November 19 on a plan that will be sent to the U.S. Army on how best to use 11 square miles of the Newport property.
PBCDF
The Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas has housed chemical munitions since 1942. The 3,850 tons of sarin, VX, and mustard agent housed there constituted 12.6 percent of the total U.S. stockpile. The Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (PBCDF) was completed in 2002, and incineration began in March 2005. Rockets containing sarin were destroyed by the end of 2007. Destruction of VX rockets was completed in February 2008, and the final VX land mine was destroyed in June 2008. Destruction of mustard agent is currently underway. To date, 49 percent of the Pine Bluff stockpile has been destroyed. Destruction is projected to be complete by November 2011, but will probably finish earlier barring unforeseen problems.
TOCDF
The Army’s single largest stockpile of chemical weapons is stored at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah. Various munitions and steel ton containers of sarin, tabun, VX, mustard agents, and lewisite constituted 44 percent of the total U.S. stockpile. Construction of the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (TOCDF) was completed in 1993. After three years of systemization testing, high-temperature incineration of weapons began on August 22, 1996. To date, 85 percent of the facility’s stockpile has been destroyed, including all munitions containing sarin and VX. Completion of weapons destruction is projected for the fall of 2011.
UMCDF
The Umatilla Chemical Depot opened in 1941 as a military storage facility, in preparation for World War II. In 1962, chemical weapons were added to the various other supplies housed at the facility. The Umatilla stockpile consisted of sarin, VX, and mustard weapons, comprising 12 percent of the total U.S. stockpile. Beginning in 1990, all conventional ammunition and other supplies were moved to other locations, in preparation for the eventual closing of the facility. Now, only chemical weapons are stored at Umatilla. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF) was completed in 2001, and destruction by incineration began on September 8, 2004. All sarin and VX weapons have been eliminated, and incineration of mustard weapons is underway. To date, 41 percent of the Umatilla stockpile has been destroyed, and operations are on track to complete destruction by early 2011.
ANCDF
The Anniston Army Depot in Alabama has stored approximately seven percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile, including sarin, VX, and mustard munitions, since the 1960s. The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (ANCDF) began incineration operations in August 2003, and has destroyed 62 percent of the Anniston stockpile to date. Sarin weapons were all destroyed as of March 2006, and VX munitions were completely destroyed by December 2008. The facility began destroying mustard weapons in July 2009, and is on schedule to complete all destruction operations by the April 29, 2012 Convention deadline.
BGCAPP
The Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky stores 523 tons of VX, sarin, and mustard munitions, constituting less than two percent of the total U.S. chemical weapons stockpile. It is the last facility to possess VX agent, and will be the last facility to complete destruction of its chemical weapons. Unlike other storage facilities, all of the chemical agents at Blue Grass are contained in aging munitions with explosive components. Construction of the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant (BGCAPP) began in September 2009. It is one of two destruction projects under the authority of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives Program (ACWA), headquartered at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. ACWA was established by Congress in 1997 to test and demonstrate alternative destruction technologies to incineration. In 2003, working in partnership with the local community, ACWA selected neutralization of chemical agents, followed by supercritical water oxidation (SCWO), as the destruction technology that will be used to destroy the weapons at the BGCAPP. Current projections estimate destruction to be completed by 2020 or 2021, and the facility to be dismantled by 2027.
PCAPP
More than eight percent of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile, consisting entirely of mustard agent munitions, is stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. The Pueblo stockpile is composed of 780,000 artillery shells and mortar rounds that contain a total of 2,611 tons of mustard agent. Construction has begun on the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP), as well as a biotreatment facility that will break down the hydrolysate byproduct of the neutralization destruction process. The PCAPP project is under the authority of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives Program (ACWA). In October 2009, Congress passed a bill to increase funding for chemical destruction in Pueblo, in efforts to meet the congressionally mandated deadline for destruction in 2017. Currently, weapons destruction is scheduled to begin in January 2015, and to be completed by December 2017. The Pueblo Chemical Depot was placed on the Base Realignment and Closure list in 1988, and will be closed following the completion of weapons destruction. The Pueblo Depot Activity Reuse Authority is a county agency that currently leases parts of the Depot from the Army, areas not involved in the storage of chemical weapons or the destruction program.
Featured Articles Archive
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 Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility Munitions Handlers watch the last Enhanced Onsite Container carrying VX M55 rockets being lifted by an overhead crane into the disposal facility's container handling building. Photo courtesy of CMA. |
On March 26, India notified the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) of the completion of the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile. With this achievement, India became the third nation to eliminate its declared chemical weapons stockpile. Albania completed its destruction in July 2007, and another State Party followed suit in 2008.
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 French soldiers making a gas and flame attack on German trenches in Flanders, Belgium, 1917. Image courtesy of www.Archives.gov. |
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Aum Shinrikyo
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Nerve Agents
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A Note from History
Yellow Rain
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 Castor plant: Ricinus communis |
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A Note from History
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A Note from History
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