Tooele Army Depot will resume the demilitarization of conventional munitions at the former Deseret Chemical Depot in Rush Valley this week, according to a release from the depot.
The State of Utah approved the open detonation permit on Oct. 9, which will allow detonations from April through October, the release said.
In the past, the TEAD-South Area has completed open detonations of old and outdated munitions, according to TEAD public affairs officer Lally Laksbergs.
“This is not a new occurrence in the south area,” she said.
It’s taken about five years for the depot to complete the state’s permit process and begin open detonation again, according to Laksbergs. The detonations will occur in the same area of TEAD-South in which they previously occurred.
The demilitarization of munitions, which also occurs at TEAD’s main area, frees up space for a new stock up of conventional munitions, Laksbergs said.
The permit for open detonation at TEAD-South Area lapsed while the former chemical depot completed a decades-long clean-up of chemical munitions. Beginning in the 1980s, TEAD-South Area destroyed and disposed of the chemical munitions stored on site, which amounted to 44 percent of the nation’s chemical munitions stockpile, according to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
The demilitarization effort for stored munitions at TEAD South was completed in 2014. There were still ongoing mitigation efforts involving the clean up of buried waste in 2015.