Umatilla Assignments

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Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) is a member of a team contracted by the U.S. Army Armament, Munitions, and Chemical Command to monitor the destruction of aging munitions stored at the Army's Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon. The Institute will receive $43 million of $566.8 million earmarked for the Umatilla plant.

The Umatilla Army Depot stores 11.6 percent of the approximately 25,000 tons of chemical weapons in the U.S. stockpile. The demilitarization plant, where chemical agents and explosives will be destroyed, will have five incinerators. The plant is expected to begin operations in just under five years, after the construction and operational testing phases are complete.

The Institute will provide 80 full-time staff members to continuously monitor the air inside and immediately outside the plant, as well as plant effluent and the plant's perimeter, for the presence of chemical agents.

The Institute has performed a similar role since 1987 on Johnston Island in the Pacific with the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Demilitarization System (JACADS)--the world's first full-scale chemical weapons destruction facility. JACADS personnel provide continuous monitoring, sampling, and chemical analysis services during the incineration of aging weapons stored on the island, an operation which is overseen by the Army and several federal agencies. The JACADS facility has destroyed more than 2.5 million pounds of chemical agents during the past six years, and its employees have worked more than two million hours without a lost-time accident.

For current job openings in this field, check the Careers at SwRI web site.

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March 25, 2013