In a significant milestone for the history of warfare, the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Kentucky is on the verge of destroying the last remaining rockets filled with GB nerve agent, marking the completion of a decadeslong campaign to eliminate the United States’ stockpile of chemical weapons. This achievement, alongside the recent destruction of chemical agents at the Army depot in Pueblo, Colorado, represents a defining moment for global arms control efforts.
The United States is operating under a deadline of September 30 to eradicate its remaining chemical weapons in accordance with the international Chemical Weapons Convention. These munitions, consisting of 51,000 M55 rockets containing the deadly GB nerve agent (commonly known as sarin), have been stored at the Kentucky depot since the 1940s.
The destruction of these weapons sends a clear message that such forms of warfare are no longer acceptable on the modern battlefield and serves as a reminder to the few countries that have not yet joined the international agreement. Military experts emphasize the significance of completing this mission in a thorough and successful manner.
Chemical weapons were first employed during World War I, resulting in a devastating death toll of at least 100,000 individuals. Despite subsequently being banned by the Geneva Convention, countries continued to stockpile these weapons until the treaty calling for their eradication.
In southern Colorado, the Army Pueblo Chemical Depot began the process of destroying its chemical weapons in 2016 and, on June 22, successfully neutralized an entire cache of approximately 2,600 tons of mustard blister agent. These projectiles and mortars constituted around 8.5% of the country’s original chemical weapons stockpile of 30,610 tons.
The completion of this mission brings relief to civic leaders in Colorado and Kentucky, as the potential threat posed by the presence of these weapons has been eliminated. While Mayor Nick Gradisar of Pueblo asserts that the weapons were never a direct threat, he acknowledges the lingering concern over their existence.
The battle over the disposal of Kentucky’s chemical weapons stockpile was a longstanding one, with local opposition leading to the abandonment of initial incineration plans. Thanks to the collaboration between community representatives, political leaders, and the military, alternative methods for disposal were proposed and ultimately implemented to address concerns about toxic pollution.
The Kentucky depot has stored mustard agent, as well as VX and sarin nerve agents, within rockets and other munitions since the 1940s. The disposal plant in the state was completed in 2015 and has been successfully neutralizing weapons since 2019, using a process known as neutralization to safely dispose of the deadly agents.
The culmination of this project has provided economic benefits to both communities, as they highlight the pool of highly skilled labor available for potential business ventures in the area.
The destruction process at the Pueblo site involved laboriously loading aging weapons onto conveyor systems, which then fed into secure rooms where robots, remotely controlled, carried out the dirty and dangerous task of eliminating the toxic mustard agent. This agent, designed to cause debilitating skin blisters and inflammation of the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs, was neutralized with hot water and mixed with a caustic solution to prevent reactivity. The byproduct was further broken down with the assistance of microbes, while the mortars and projectiles were decontaminated and recycled as scrap metal.
Any problematic munitions that were leaky or overpacked were sent to an armored, stainless steel detonation chamber to be safely eliminated.
The Colorado and Kentucky sites were the last remaining locations where the United States’ chemical weapons were stored and destroyed. Other sites included facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon, Utah, and the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
This final destruction of U.S. chemical weapons represents a significant accomplishment for the Chemical Weapons Convention. While only three countries—Egypt, North Korea, and South Sudan—have not signed the treaty, there is lingering concern over undeclared chemical weapons stockpiles in nations like Russia and Syria.
Nevertheless, advocates of arms control are hopeful that the actions taken by the United States could motivate other countries to join in eliminating weapons of mass destruction. They see this achievement as proof that banning such weapons is possible with political will and a robust verification system.
This report was compiled by DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas and Peipert in Pueblo, Colorado.
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