The United States will soon begin destroying its largest remaining hoard of chemical weapons.
Neutralization of the 780,000 artillery shells, stored in the Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado and laden with 2,600 tons of aging mustard agent, is set to begin in March, reported The Associated Press.
The 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention established a 2012 deadline to get rid of all chemical weapons. Along with the U.S., Russia, Libya and Iraq are the only other known countries who missed the deadline, according to the BBC.
Experts say the eradication process has been slowed due to costs involved with their safe destruction, along with concerns over public health and the environment, AP reported.
Libya said it expects to finish the process in 2016, and Russia in 2020, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. A date is not known for Iraq, where ongoing violence has been a main contributor to the delayed destruction.
Syria, who made headlines in 2013 after being accused by the U.S. of using nerve gas in an attack that killed 1,400 people, joined the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in late 2013. The organization reported Tuesday that seven months after Syria exported the last of its chemical weapons, the first of its 12 production facilities was destroyed, reported The New York Times.
Almost 90 percent of the U.S. stockpile has been eliminated at storage facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon, Utah and Johnson Atoll, according to the AP.
Incineration is the most often used method of destruction, but some Coloradans are worried that mercury vapor could pose health concerns, said Irene Kornelly of the Pueblo Citizens Advisory Commission, a group established by Congress who has worked to devise alternative methods.
The Army will use two destruction methods for the Colorado stockpile. Starting in March, the 1,400 shells that are leaking or damaged will be destroyed by explosives in a sealed steel chamber with 9-inch thick walls. The factory is only capable of destroying six shells per day.
Then, beginning in December or January, the remaining 700,000-plus shells will be dismantled in a partially automated $4.5 billion plant, where up to 60 shells will be dismantled and neutralized in water per hour. Bacteria will then be added to digest and convert the remaining chemicals before being buried in a hazardous waste dump.
The operation is expected to be completed in 2019.
