Army reseals chemical weapons, cites leak

[unhappycamper]

Army reseals chemical weapons, cites leak
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jun 14, 2010 21:22:44 EDT

PUEBLO, Colo. — Army officials say they have resealed three shells that were leaking mustard agent vapor at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.

Depot spokesman Chuck Sprague says the leaks were very small and that none of the vapor got out of the bunker where the shells are stored. He says no one was injured.

The vapor was detected in late May and the leaking shells were identified on June 8. Crews finished resealing them on Monday.

Sprague says the shells were already inside sealed containers because they had leaked before or had been drilled for testing. He says those earlier containers leaked, so crews put them inside new, larger sealed containers.

The depot has 2,600 tons of mustard agent awaiting destruction under international treaty.



unhappycamper comment: Destroying chemical agents from long ago has not had priority for a looooong time. You never know when we might 'need' them.

Cluster bombs and white phosphorous we used to level Fallujah before the days that Iraqis were our friends.

[era veteran]

1. Problems going on for years in KY

Of the 15,000 mustard gas rounds @ Bluegrass Army Depot 9,300 are corroded............ http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=154x2201

[Statistical]

2. Us has no use for chemical weapons.... nuclear weapons are far cleaner and far more effective.

They also don't have the nasty habit of killing your own troops when the wind changes.

Reality is destroying them is more complex, dangerous, time consuming, and costly than building them and we built thousands of metric tons worth of various chemical weapons. We will miss the 2012 deadline but will eliminate all of them by mid 2013.

US has publicly stated it will never respond with chemical weapons.... the flip side of that coin is that the stated policy is that the United States will treat any WMD attack (biological, chemical, or nuclear) as a nuclear strike and respond with massive nuclear counter-strike.