But what will the challenge actually involve? Below, with the caveat that the process varies greatly according to the weapons being treated and the location of the treatment, is the general process for taking the "deadly" out of "deadly weapon."

1. Breakdown of the weapon

First, you have to separate the chemical agents from the non-chemical components of each weapon. Typically, this will involve breaking down each device into the munitions (like rockets and artillery shells), the chemical agents themselves, and, in some cases, the rocket propellant that gives the weapons their explosive power.

2. Drainage of the weapon's chemical agents

The chemical agents will be drained from the munitions that contain them – a process conducted primarily by specially designed robots, typically (and ideally) as part of an assembly-line setup. The agents are then sent to a holding tank.

3. Destruction of the weapon's chemical agents

The active chemical agents, having been isolated, are then destroyed. Possible methods for this, depending on the composition of the weapons themselves and on the setting of the destruction, include:

a. Incineration

Incineration, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, was the earliest technology the United States used to destroy chemical weapons: The country began operating the first incineration facility in 1990, on the Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. As its name suggests, the technique involves burning chemical agents in high-temperature liquid furnaces to deprive them of their biohazardous capabilities. And it works, the CDC explains, by converting chemical agents "to ash, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other products formed by combustion." When the liquid furnaces that allow it are accessible, incineration is generally the Department of Defense's preferred method for the destruction of chemical agents and munitions.

b. Neutralization

There's also a wet chemistry approach to destruction -- one preferred by Russia and by some American states. Referred to as neutralization (or, sometimes, as hydrolysis), this method takes liquid agents and places them in a mixing tank with either extremely hot water or a caustic re-agent like sodium hydroxide (otherwise known as lye). Some approaches mix the chemical agent with both materials. The reaction that results from this -- chemical hydrolysis -- destroys the toxicity of the agent.

c. Microbial degradation

In this method, the agent -- as in the neutralization method -- is mixed with water and a caustic solution, creating a byproduct called hydrolysate. The process brings the pH to of the agent to a neutral level; that, in turn, makes the new solution digestible by microbes. From there, the hydrolysate undergoes a biotreatment process, in which microbes digest and further break down the solution. Water released from the process is then recycled, leaving salts and the "biosludge" comprised of microbe waste products and other bacterial matter. The product that results is removed to a storage and disposal facility.