![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP23162618410026.jpg.jpg\")
\u201cThose [weapons] sitting out there were not a threat,\u201d Pueblo Mayor Nick Gradisar said. But, he added, \u201cyou always wondered what might happen with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the 1980s, the community around Kentucky\u2019s Blue Grass Army Depot rose up in opposition to the Army\u2019s initial plan to incinerate the plant\u2019s 520 tons of chemical weapons, leading to a decadeslong battle over how they would be disposed of. They were able to halt the planned incineration plant, and then, with help from lawmakers, prompted the Army to submit alternative methods to burning the weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Craig Williams, who became the leading voice of the community opposition and later a partner with political leadership and the military, said residents were concerned about potential toxic pollution from burning the deadly chemical agents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Williams noted that the military eliminated most of its existing stockpile by burning weapons at other, more remote sites such as Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean or at a chemical depot in the middle of the Utah desert. But the Kentucky site was adjacent to Richmond and only a few dozen miles away from Lexington, the state\u2019s second-largest city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe had a middle school of over 600 kids a mile away from the [planned] smokestack,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kentucky storage facility has housed mustard agent and the VX and sarin nerve agents, much of it inside rockets and other projectiles, since the 1940s. The state\u2019s disposal plant was completed in 2015 and began destroying weapons in 2019. It uses a process called neutralization to dilute the deadly agents so they can be safely disposed of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The project, however, has been a boon for both communities, and facing the eventual loss of thousands of workers, both are pitching the pool of high-skilled laborers as a plus for companies looking to locate in their regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Workers at the Pueblo site used heavy machinery to meticulously \u2014 and slowly \u2014 load aging weapons onto conveyor systems that fed into secure rooms where remote-controlled robots did the dirty and dangerous work of eliminating the toxic mustard agent, which was designed to blister the skin and cause inflammation of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robotic equipment removed the weapons\u2019 fuses and bursters before the mustard agent was neutralized with hot water and mixed with a caustic solution to prevent the reaction from reversing. The byproduct was further broken down in large tanks swimming with microbes, and the mortars and projectiles were decontaminated at 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit and recycled as scrap metal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Problematic munitions that were leaky or overpacked were sent to an armored, stainless steel detonation chamber to be destroyed at about 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Colorado and Kentucky sites were the last among several, including Utah and the Johnston Atoll, where the nation\u2019s chemical weapons had been stockpiled and destroyed. Other locations included facilities in Alabama, Arkansas and Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kingston Reif, an assistant U.S. secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control, said the destruction of the last U.S. chemical weapon \u201cwill close an important chapter in military history, but one that we\u2019re very much looking forward to closing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials say the elimination of the U.S. stockpile is a major step forward for the Chemical Weapons Convention. Only three countries \u2014 Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan \u2014 have not signed the treaty. A fourth, Israel, has signed but not ratified the treaty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reif noted that there remains concern that some parties to the convention, particularly Russia and Syria, possess undeclared chemical weapons stockpiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, arms control advocates hope this final step by the U.S. could nudge the remaining countries to join. But they also hope it could be used as a model for eliminating other types of weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt shows that countries can really ban a weapon of mass destruction,\u201d said Paul F. Walker, vice chairman of the Arms Control Association and coordinator of the Chemical Weapons Convention Coalition. \u201cIf they want to do it, it just takes the political will and it takes a good verification system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas, and Peipert reported from Pueblo, Colorado.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The weapons\u2019 destruction alleviates a concern that civic leaders in Colorado and Kentucky admit was always in the back of their minds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":117852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"coauthors":[4779],"class_list":["post-83768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flashpoints"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"YZR4CRYXZFEKHNILGA6CAR5I7A","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/the-americas\/2023\/07\/07\/us-to-destroy-its-last-chemical-weapons\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n