United Nations inspectors checking for compliance with the newly ratified treaty banning chemical weapons will visit Deseret Chemical Depot in the western Utah desert, probably June 1-4.
The Senate ratified the pact in April following bitter debate. The treaty, "The Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction," allows international inspectors to make sure that weapons are being destroyed.Until April, federal law required that all such weapons must be destroyed by Dec. 31, 2004. But the treaty resolution changes the deadline to coincide with that in the convention, which is April 29, 2007.
Inspectors based in The Hague, Netherlands, are planning to check U.S. stockpiles first because it is the only country that has ratified the treaty and admitted it has chemical weapons stockpiles. The United States has nine stockpiles, all of which are scheduled to be destroyed. However, the only current destruction facilities are at Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean and at Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah.
"I've heard that this is a relatively high-level visit. . . . It would be a familiarization visit," said Ted Ryba, assistant project manager at the Army's $600 million chemical weapons destruction facility. The plant and stockpile of nerve gas and mustard agent are both at the depot.
During a practice inspection in April, crews checked the condition of facilities the inspectors will use, such as instruments that will allow them to take chemical samples "for verification that it really is agent," Ryba said.
The foreign inspectors know that the Utah incinerator is not now destroying agent and is not expected to resume operations before the middle of June, Ryba said.
Under the treaty, inspectors need give only 24 hours' notice that they are coming to Utah. The facility must allow them to inspect anything they wish.
The visit will be coordinated by the U.S. On-Site Inspection Agency, which has an officer at the depot and a facility in Magna. The Magna facility has been coordinating Russian inspectors' enforcement of a missile treaty.
Jon E. Pettebone, spokesman for the depot, said officials are working on a plan for helping with the inspection.
"It's what they call a demand inspection. We'll be notified when they hit the port of entry," he said. Inspectors probably will land at Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., then travel to Utah.
Pettebone said the depot is ready for the inspectors. In fact, he believes the incinerator is a model for the international effort to destroy chemical weapons.