HERMISTON – Eight members of a multi-national team arrived Tuesday to begin a week-long inspection of the Umatilla Chemical Depot.

The inspection will determine if the United States is keeping its portion of a multi-national treaty to destroy chemical weapons. This is the fifth such inspection at the Umatilla depot since 1997.

“These inspections are really like the inventories our trained chemical operations crews complete as a matter of routine operations,” said Lt. Col. Tom Woloszyn, the depot commander.

The inspection, which runs through Saturday, will determine if the United States is complying with the Chemical Weapons Convention. The treaty prohibits the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons.

The United States ratified the treaty in April 1997 and has 10 years to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile. Routine inspections are part of that treaty.

The inspection team, which traveled from The Hague, Netherlands, includes eight members. They hail from: France, Hungary, Republic of Korea, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia and Slovenia.

Because of the sensitive nature of the inspections and the limited time available, public and media access to the inspectors will be restricted.