RICHMOND, Ky., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- Officials say they are preparing to destroy 157 gallons of the chemical warfare nerve agent GB, or sarin, after a container leaked in Kentucky.

The process was expected to begin Wednesday at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond, Ky., and comes after more than a year of delays and detailed preparations, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader reported.


In August, one of the three steel containers holding the GB leaked in what was described by officials as the largest leak in the history of the 14,500-acre chemical weapons depot.

The GB was originally stored in a steel one ton container in a storage igloo beginning in the mid-1980s, the newspaper said. In 2004, portions of the stockpile were transferred to two other containers because the chemical and decontaminants had eaten away at the bolts of the original container.

Depot operations officials, after previously saying the August leak posed no threat, told the Herald-Leader Monday that the ton containers would continue to pose a potential risk if the GB was not destroyed.