Army: Leak detected at Oregon Weapons Depot

A trace amount of the chemical weapon gas sarin was detected Friday at the U.S. Army's Umatilla Chemical Dept in Umatilla, Ore., according to a statement released by the Army.

A spokesman for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality said the amount of GB, or sarin, was so small that it did not pose a threat to people. Determining exactly which container is leaking will probably not be done until Monday, according to the DEQ.

The leak was detected Friday by a crew conducting a daily monitoring routine, according to the Army. The gas was stored in a structure called an “igloo” used for keeping over-packed weapons, most of which have previously leaked, the Army statement said. Many of the weapons have been there since 1984 and others have been there since the 1960s, according to the DEQ.

Sarin is a highly volatile liquid that is easily absorbed through the skin, even in vapor form, and which can cause death as quickly as one minute after exposure to low concentrations.

The process of isolating which container inside the igloo is leaking is a time-consuming process whereby groups of containers and then individual containers are isolated and tested, according to the Army. In the meantime, the air inside the igloo will be monitored and filtered

Much ado about nothing. I just returned from a trip to the depot today.( I work for a National Laboratory, and we calibrate the air monitoring instruments ). The people of Oregon need to know, that they are protected by one great, professional group of people. I travel to these bases all around the country, and they are all safe. I work on these bases, and probably wouldn't if I thought that it was unsafe to be in close proximity to these Igloos. There is ZERO chance of anything serious happening. A big thanks to those who protect us and guard the stockpiles of special weapons, and to all those in the military, I say thanks for putting your necks out, so that the rest of us can sleep safely.

There is ZERO chance of anything serious happening. A big thanks to those who protect us and guard the stockpiles of special weapons, and to all those in the military, I say thanks for putting your necks out, so that the rest of us can sleep safely.

Now I am confused. If there is "ZERO chance of anything serious happening", then why is the military "putting your necks out" or for that matter why is the military even needed to guard these stockpiles. Question - If there is "ZERO chance of anything serious happening" why is so much time and money being spend on figuring out how to get rid of this stuff and to monitor the air quality in the stockpiles? :)

Now I am confused. If there is "ZERO chance of anything serious happening", then why is the military "putting your necks out" or for that matter why is the military even needed to guard these stockpiles.

There are those wackos of middle eastern descent, and I'm sure there are some homegrown wackos, who would love to get their hands on this stuff so that they could create havoc in our society.

Question - If there is "ZERO chance of anything serious happening" why is so much time and money being spend on figuring out how to get rid of this stuff and to monitor the air quality in the stockpiles? :)

As they are currently stored, there are multiple levels of containment, if the primary container fails ( i.e. the actual artillery shell or rocket) there are multiple, auxillary containers used to encase these weapons. The primary weapons containers ( i.e. the artillery shells) are getting old, and cannot be depended on, forever, to contain these nasties. The safest course of action is to get rid of these weapons, as we no longer need them ( The army has developed newer and safer types of these weapons). Another reason, is that sometime after these weapons were produced, the army came up with "safer" weapons that use binary compounds, which are inert, until they are mixed.

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