Nerve agents

Up until the 1970s, the U.S. military had been dumping nerve agents in the Atlantic ocean. I believe that thousands of tons have been dumped. What happens if one of these containers breaks open? Are nerve gasses deadly to aquatic life? Whats the potential dangers here?

DavidPT40:

Up until the 1970s, the U.S. military had been dumping nerve agents in the Atlantic ocean. I believe that thousands of tons have been dumped. What happens if one of these containers breaks open? Are nerve gasses deadly to aquatic life? Whats the potential dangers here?

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If such dumping did occur, I doubt it would have come to thousands of tons. I was at Johnston Atoll around 1990 and they were still working on the destruction of Vietnam era chemical munitions, so no massive dumping effort was evident.

If any was dumped, it is far more like to be a drop in the bucket compared to the pesticides introduced into the waters.

I would expect massive dilution to occur if such a container was to fail. Most of that stuff is pretty volatile and would dissipate quickly.

In any case, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors probably would affect marine life. They are unlikely to do it any good.

AFAIK, there never were any "nerve gasses". VX, GA, GB, and GD are all liquids.

The potential dangers would be killing things in the immediate vicinity.

People who watch too many James Bond movies will probably tell you the world is going to end.

According to an article posted on our agency (DEQ) intranet site yesterday, the Army conducted secret ordnance dumping from 1944-1970 at 26 locations offshore eleven states.

Included in the material disposed at sea:

64 million lbs of mustard gas
400,000 chemical-filled bombs, grenades, rockets

Specific incidences of dumping:

In 1944, 16,000 mustard gas-filled 100-lb bombs were dumped 5 miles off the coast of Hawaii.

In 1946, 23 barges, each holding 350 tons of German-produced nerve gas and US-produced Lewisite (a blister agent) were dumped.

In 1957, 48 tons of Lewisite-filled ordnance was dumped in 12,600' of water off Virginia Beach, VA.

Three dump zones located off the VA and MD border received 77,000 mustard gas-filled mortar rounds, 5,000 white phosporus munitions, 1,500 one-ton cannisters of Lewisite, and 800 55-gallon barrels of radioactive waste.

During Operation CHASE, two ships (SS Corporal EG Gibson and SS Mormachtern) were loaded with rockets containing VX nerve gas and sunk in 6000' of water offshore Atlantic City. A third ship enroute to the dump zone exploded and sank in Aug 1968.

There is much more detail in this article, but these items give the reader a feel for the magnitude of the amount of material that has been dropped in the ocean in the continental US. A separate article details US Army dumping operations in other areas of the world.

Wow Cyklon, thats an impressive amount of death and destruction in our coastal waters. So, lets just assume that these cannisters will eventually rust and leak. They probably will. Will the nerve agents decompose over time? Will the seawater dillute the agents into less-than-lethal amounts? Or will the agents conglomerate and form a big oil slick?

According to an article in the Newport News Daily Press "A drop of nerve agent can kill within a minute. When released in the ocean, it lasts up to six weeks, killing every organism it touches before breaking down into its nonlethal chemical components. Mustard gas forms a concentrated, encrusted gel in seawater that lasts for at least five years." Read the full article at http://www.latimes.com/news/printed...ons30oct30,1,7624417.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

cyklon_300:

According to an article posted on our agency (DEQ) intranet site yesterday,

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Is that the Texas Department of Environmental Quality?

Was it an official post, by someone who would know?

What was the original source of the information?

Enquiring minds want to know.

several accounts of munitions being snared in fishing nets and recovered by dredging operations have caused serious injuries to crew members that were exposed. One mustard gas mortar round was dredged and found in a load of material that have been delivered for use as paving material for a residential driveway.

Additionally, there is limited evidence of certain marine species being impacted (beached dolphins showing lesions similar to those caused by blister agents) in the areas of known disposed ordnance.

Some sites are in extremely deep water and may pose a minimal threat to humans. However, there appears to be documentation that some dumping operations occurred prematurely in shallower waters because ship and barge crews were anxious to get rid of the dangerous cargoes.

The decomposition rates of these munitions containers and their contents varies greatly due to depth, oxygen content of the water, burial by sediments, etc etc. At the very least, the Army should be developing feasibility plans to remediate the shallow water sites.

Ugh. I can just imagine what would happen if (1) mustard gas is neutrally or positively buoyant, or (2) these chemicals get picked up in a continental updrift current.

Don Burke said:
"People who watch too many James Bond movies will probably tell you the world is going to end."

Don't be silly... No one could EVER watch too many James Bond movies...

Wow! I had no idea they had dumped that GA from Germany this close. Also known as Tabun, it is very volatile and deep water is a good place for it.

Mustard and Lewisite are pretty heavy and I have no idea who thinks they would float.