Depot Ceremony to honor those who died in 1944 explosion

Umatilla Chemical Depot will honor the six workers who died in a 1944 igloo explosion on Monday, March 21, the 67th anniversary of the event.

The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. in Bldg. 54 and end at the site of the explosion. Family members of those who died and the public are invited.

The 1944 accident was the only fatal munitions handling accident in the depot’s 70- year history. The depot received its first conventional munitions in October, 1941 on the eve of World War II, and stored conventional ammunition throughout World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Gulf War. The depot began its current mission of chemical weapons storage in the early 1960s and continues that tradition today.

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Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility starts maintenance window Feb 17

The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility will pause processing of HD mustard ton containers and prepare for maintenance to its Metal Parts Furnace, starting today. This annual maintenance was scheduled for May and moved forward due to needed maintenance on the inner furnace door. The maintenance is expected to last 14 days.

During this maintenance a cooling coil for an inner furnace door will be replaced and piping will be run for the Rinsate collection system, which is expected to be operational in April.

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Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility weekly project update - February 17, 2011

Operations at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (UMCDF) were interrupted at about 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, when CONR-110 faulted, causing loss of Heating, Ventilating and Cooling (HVC). Operations were suspended and all employees donned protective masks.
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Malfunctioning Air Conditioning Unit Closes Umatilla Chemical Depot 2/12/11

A malfunctioning air conditioning unit Saturday, Feb. 12, resulted in the closure of the Umatilla Chemical Depot.
Umatilla County Emergency Manager Jim Stearns, who was out of the area, said he was reached by cell phone by emergency dispatchers and was told operations were shutting down due to the system glitch.

 

A depot spokesman said the incident is merely a maintenance issue and poses no danger for personnel or people in the area.

The East Oregonian

Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility weekly project update - February 10, 2011

The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility processed 15 TCs over the weekend, pushing the project over the midway point of the mustard ton container campaign.

It is the 13th and final individual munitions disposal campaign for the plant. Through Sunday, the Metal Parts Furnace had processed 1,325 donor TCs. The halfway mark was 1,318 TCs.

The HD mustard disposal campaign started in June 2009. It is projected to finish late this year, a little more than seven years after the first munition was destroyed in the fall of 2004.

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Umatilla Chemical Depot reaches the halfway point in its last disposal campaign

The Umatilla Chemical Depot reached the halfway point in its last disposal campaign on Feb. 5, 2011, when the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility destroyed the 1,318th ton container from the depot stockpile.

The HD mustard disposal campaign started in June 2009. Officials are projecting completion of this final campaign late this year, a little more than seven years after the first munition was destroyed in the fall of 2004.


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Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility weekly project update - February 3, 2011

The last mustard-filled ton container containing mercury was discharged from the Metal Parts Furnace (MPF) Sunday at about 7 a.m.

“Congratulations Team UMCDF for completing a significant milestone,” said Operations Manager Kim Jackson. “Outstanding job by the Operations crews in recent days for coordinating all the venting, punching and MPF operations through a very busy week.”

Completing the mercury TCs was a critical accomplishment in preparation for using the Rinsate Collection
System.

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