Latest southern Colorado news, weather and sports from FOX21 News

PUEBLO, COLO. -- Construction of the Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant (PCAPP) near Pueblo is almost complete.

Federal officials said safety remains a top priority as hazardous leaks from the chemical weapons stored in the stockpile at the Pueblo Chemical Depot are possible.

Nearly 800,000 rounds of mustard agent are stored in 98 earth-covered igloos located within the chemical limited area at the depot. Ammunitions specialist Lisabeth Wachutka said the igloos are constantly watched using air monitoring devices to check for chemical leaks. No one is allowed inside the igloos unless they are equipped with a gas mask and breathing equipment.

"About 101 munitions have leaked in the past 40 years," Wachutka said. "That's about 0.013 percent of our entire stockpile, which is a really low amount."

The 2,600 tons of mustard agent are being held in the igloos before they are destroyed at PCAPP, where other precautions will take place to ensure no chemical is released into the environment.

"[Mustard agent] is a blistering agent," Project Chief Scientist George Lecakes said. "However, it is also a poison."

Inside PCAPP, there are numerous rooms filled with high-powered machines designed to destroy the chemical weapon, each with a specific purpose. Plant managers said the multi-step process is extremely specific in order to protect the workforce and the public from being exposed to the hazardous agent.

"We have a series of continuous air monitoring systems in place so that we always are aware of what is happening with the air," Jerry Tiller, General Manager of PCAPP, said. "Even around the perimeter we have monitoring systems in place to make sure that if anything were to escape, we could detect it immediately."

The mustard agent will be destroyed in a neutralization process using water and heat to make the chemical less toxic. However, before the weapons destruction process can take place, a series of tests must be conducted to show the U.S. Army and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment that no chemicals will be released into the atmosphere.

"They do what is called a muti-pathway health risk assessment," Lecakes said, "which is common of a toxic storage and disposal facility. What they do is look at the toxicity of anything being emitted from the stacks and then agree to a protocol of what is acceptable emissions."

Plant managers and scientists agreed the process to destroy the weapons will not only be effective, but also safe.

"There will be no harm to people or to the environment," Tiller said.

PCAPP is expected to be completed by March 2010, and all weapons must be destroyed by 2017 as stated by an international treaty.

To learn more about the chemical weapons destruction process, watch the video here.