U. S. Chemical Stockpile Disposal Programme: The Search for Alternative Technologies

Abstract

The United States has maintained a stockpile of highly toxic chemical agents and munitions for more than half a century. Chemical agents are extremely hazardous, which is why they have been used in weapons. The manufacture of chemical agents and munitions and their subsequent stockpiling were undertaken in the belief that they had value as deterrents to the use of similar materials against U.S. forces. Today, other deterrents are considered more appropriate. In an attempt to avoid the worldwide risk posed by chemical warfare, the United States has entered into an agreement with many other nations to rid the world of all chemical weapons and munitions. Even apart from this agreement, the United States can no longer justify the continuing risk and expense of storing them. Consequently, there is ample incentive for the United States to dispose of its chemical agents and munitions as soon as this can be done safely.

Abstracted from the National Research Council report, Review and Evaluation of Alternative Chemical Disposal Technologies, Panel on Review and Evaluation of Alternative Chemical Disposal Technologies, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1996: Board on Army Science and Technology