Army Destroys German WWII Chemical Weapons

Workers at the Army’s chemical weapons storage depot in Utah have safely destroyed the last of a 4,100-lb stockpile of nerve agent seized by U.S. troops from Nazi Germany near the end of World War II. Incineration of four bulk containers filled with the nerve agent GA, or tabun, took less than two weeks, according to the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency. The arsenal had been safeguarded at the depot for more than six decades. Over the past 15 years, the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has been destroying mustard-agent-filled munitions and a variety of other chemical weapons. Only a “relatively small” stockpile remains, and that job is expected to be completed by early next year, the Army agency says. The materials are being destroyed under the Chemical Weapons Convention, a 1997 international treaty that aims to rid the world of chemical warfare materials. The Utah depot, located 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, once held more than 40% of the U.S. supply of chemical weapons.