Chemical weapon disposal at the Blue Grass Army Depot is well into its second month at the Madison County installation. The person overseeing operations said a crawl, walk, run approach is being used when it comes to demilitarization.
Site Project Manager for the Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant Candace Coyle said through July 19, 1.7 tons of mustard agent has been destroyed. The depot stores more than 500 tons of aging munitions. Coyle said the pace is slowly picking up. “We have moved from having one projectile at a time to processing two projectiles at a time. So, we are moving at a pace that I feel very comfortable with, that I feel is the safest,” said Coyle.
Coyle added some of the mustard munitions are gelled and that does require a little more time to process. The projectiles are being placed in a static detonation chamber. The site project manager said plans still call for starting the neutralization of nerve agent by the end of the year.
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