2 years ago
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The arsenal has destroyed more than 9,000 land mines that contained nerve agent plus rockets continuing the same chemical. And arsenal leaders say they completed the mission in landmark time.
The last land mine to go into the furnace didn't look quite like the others. It had been autographed by all the workers there that day. It was their way to commemorate destroying the last chemical weapon here.
Project Manager David Reber says, "We had people come from the control room and they come in shifts so they would keep it staffed and go and sign it."
The arsenal began destroying chemical weapons in March of 2005. They started with rockets filled with nerve gas and have now finished the land mines. They will now shift focus to mustard gas, sitting in large storage containers; where they've been since World War II.
Project Manager Mark Greer says, "It causes severe blistering of an area that is very painful, very hard to heal and incapacitates people."
It will take several years to dispose of the mustard gas; then more than seven hundred workers could be out of a job.
Greer says, "We've known since we took our jobs on this project that our goal was to work our way out of a job."
Now that they're about done destroying chemical weapons here at the arsenal they start to think about the future, especially about those jobs. What many do not know is they also do some manufacturing here at the arsenal. They're going to try to expand that to keep the workers here.
They're ramping up production lines especially for grenades. Workers that don't transfer to production will be offered tuition assistance; or help in finding other local jobs outside the arsenal.
When the weapons destruction mission is complete in several years, some of the workers will also have the opportunity to transfer to similar facilities in Kentucky and Colorado.
Now that all the explosive weapons are gone arsenal officials say 99.9% percent of the risk is gone to the surrounding community.
