Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot Friday says it is investigating a leak of mustard gas in one of its secure facilities.

The U.S. Army operates the Depot, which destroys unsafe weapons left over from past wars.

Thursday, a built-in detection system alerted Army officials to a possible leak in one of the sealed containment bunkers, called igloos.

Army spokesman Jim Hackett says investigators found, at most, a drop of leaked liquid on the outside of one container of  mustard gas.

Jim Hackett: “We detected a trace amount in one of our storage igloos. And these are very routine for us.”

Hackett says staff sprayed the container with decontaminant.

He says the mustard gas container will be monitored over the next few days.

The mustard gas containers will not be tampered with for at least a year. The Army doesn't plan to incinerate the dangerous gas until it has finished destroying its cache of poisonous V-X rockets.