Chemical Weapons Found in Hawaii Slated for Destruction

The Army is cleaning up some discovered phosgene munitions in Hawaii, reports the Honolulu Advertiser. More than seventy World War II projectiles were discovered a few years ago on an old range used for Stryker brigade training purposes. All except one were filled with phosgene, which was a main chemical warfare agent for the US Army during World War II.

"(The Transportable Detonation Chamber) provides us the capability to do 10, 20, 30 items a day," said Dale A. Ormond, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for the elimination of chemical weapons. "So this is the first opportunity where we found enough munitions where this process becomes economically feasible."

The chamber is a two-story-tall serpentine path of armored boxes, ducts, heaters, drums and sensors contained within a large tentlike structure in which the air is changed four times per hour.

The Army, which is leasing the chamber from company CH2M Hill, transported the setup by barge from the Mainland.

The chemical rounds will be destroyed one by one with up to 15 pounds of explosives in a freight elevator-size chamber with 1 inch of armor plating backed by 10 inches of sand and then more steel plate.

The projectiles included a mix of 38 each 155 mm projectiles; 22 each 75 mm projectiles; 11 each 4-inch Stokes mortars; and a good number of liquid-filled (not chemical agent) mortar and artillery projectiles. The Army has been setting this disposal process up carefully over the past year. Hawaii has strict environmental laws on the islands and the relatively old chemicals would not pose an immediate threat to the local populace, so there wasn't any reason to rush.