The Umatilla Chemical Depot (UMCD), based in

Umatilla, Oregon Umatilla (, ) is a city in Umatilla County, Oregon, United States. The population in 2010 was 6,906, but the city's population includes approximately 2,000 inmates incarcerated at Two Rivers Correctional Institution. Umatilla is part of the ...

, was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

installation in the United States that stored

chemical weapons A chemical weapon (CW) is a specialized munition that uses chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. According to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), this can be any chemical compound intended as ...

. The chemical weapons originally stored at the depot consisted of various live munitions and storage containers each holding GB or VX nerve agents or HD blister agent. All munitions had been safely destroyed by 2011 and base closure operations were still ongoing as of 2022.

History

The Umatilla Ordnance Depot (later the Umatilla Army Depot) opened in 1941, to prepare for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The depot's mission was to store and maintain a variety of

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

items, from

blanket A blanket is a swath of soft textile, cloth large enough either to cover or to enfold most of the user's body and thick enough to keep the body warm by trapping radiant body heat that otherwise would be lost through Thermal conduction, condu ...

s to

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

. The depot took on its chemical weapons storage mission in 1962 and stored 12% of the nation's stockpile. From 1990 to 1994, the facility reorganized in preparation for eventual closure, shipping all conventional ammunition and supplies to other installations.

Chemical weapons destruction facility

The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility is designed for the destruction of the chemical weapons stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot. The facility was completed in 2001. The Army began weapons disposal on September 8, 2004, and completed disposal on October 25, 2011.
- Los Angeles Times - October 25, 2011 Destruction is a requirement under the

Chemical Weapons Convention The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), officially the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for ...

and monitored by the

OPCW The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW; French language, French: ''Organisation pour l'interdiction des armes chimiques'', OIAC) is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation and the implementing b ...

. The facility destroyed 220,604 munitions and containers containing of GB, HD and VX via high-temperature incineration, representing 100 percent of the base's stockpile.
- U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency - October 25, 2011 While destroying 50% of its stockpile took six years (until August 2010), the processing of the second 50% was expected to take only two years. The process is simplified by having only containers of HD remaining to be processed while multiple kinds of individual munitions containing several agents were destroyed early in the campaign. An emphasis on risk reduction prioritised destruction of the most modern and dangerous compounds (VX and GB) and destruction of smaller containers, which had greater risk of theft, explosion, and leakage.

Public participation and outreach

The Oregon Citizens' Advisory Commission, whose members include area residents appointed by the governor of Oregon, Governor, is a focal point for public participation in the Army's weapons storage and disposal program in Umatilla.

Closure and redevelopment

Dismantling of the chemical disposal facility began in August 2013, and the base was expected to be transferred for state and private use by early 2015. The timeline was pushed back by the Columbia Development Authority, first to 2016 and then to 2017 and into 2018, due to complications during cleanup. After the planned decommissioning and transfer of land in 2018, the

Oregon Military Department The Oregon Military Department is an agency of the Government of Oregon, government of the U.S. state of Oregon, which oversees the armed forces of the state of Oregon. Under the authority and direction of the Governor of Oregon, governor as ...

plans to use part of the base for a training facility, while the rest becomes industrial land and a

wildlife refuge A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

. In late 2011, 49 of the 69 off-site sirens surrounding the depot were removed and have been repurposed as tsunami sirens along the

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

Tillamook County Tillamook County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,390. The county seat is Tillamook. The county is named for the Tillamook people or Killamook people, a Native American trib ...

would receive 30 sirens but never use them, while

Clatsop County Clatsop County () is the northernmost county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,072. The county seat is Astoria. The county is named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans, who lived along the coas ...

would receive 19 sirens, with Cannon Beach installing several of the former sirens to replace ones that had run their time.

References

External links