Fire Shuts Down Chemical Weapons Disposal Plant

The U.S. Army’s chemical weapons disposal plant on Johnston Atoll was closed following a fire in a containment area where a mustard gas shell was being dismantled, an Army spokesman said.

No one was in the area and there were no injuries, said John Fairbank, a spokesman for the Army.

Explosive material used to detonate the artillery shell caught fire Saturday as it was being removed, Fairbank said.

The fire burned itself out, he said.

If mustard gas had escaped into the area, it would have been trapped by air filters, Fairbank said.

A team of inspectors from the Army’s Maryland-based Chemical Materiel Destruction Agency will arrive on the atoll next week to investigate the fire and assess any damage to the plant’s machinery, he said.

The plant will remain closed until the investigation is completed, Fairbank said.

The facility began destroying chemical weapons in June, 1990. Since then, more than 34,000 rockets, barrels and artillery shells have been processed, and more than 343,700 pounds of mustard and nerve gas have been incinerated.

Johnston Atoll is 750 miles southwest of Hawaii.