Inouye, a ranking member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee which was taking testimony on chemical munitions destruction today in Washington, D.C., said he was pleased by the announcement, which came from Harold Smith, assistant secretary of defense for atomic energy. Inouye said Smith "reaffirmed that all chemical stockpiles stored at Johnston Island will be destroyed by the year 2000 and shortly thereafter the disposal facility will be dismantled."

The Army earlier this year reported destroying more than 2 million pounds of chemical weapons at the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agents Disposal System facility.

John Fairbank, Pacific Army spokesman, said Inouye re-stated what the military has been saying along the way. "All of the rockets and bombs stored there have been destroyed and one-third of the agents stored there have been destroyed."

The Army began operating its chemical weapons disposal plant in 1990 under a contract with the Environmental Protection Agency. Johnston Atoll is located about 700 miles southwest of Honolulu.

In May the EPA approved a modification of the Army's permit, extending its operations beyond its Aug. 30, 1995, expiration date for at least another year.

Public interest groups have appealed that decision.

The Army has been working to meet a 1985 congressional order to dispose of the Army's stockpile of chemical agents and munitions by the year 2004.

The EPA in August 1985 approved a 10-year permit allowing Johnston's disposal facility to operate; operations began June 1990.

In January 1995, a General Accounting Office study said that M55 rockets with chemical warheads stored at Johnston are prone to leaks and may be hazardous.

Another report criticized the program's spiraling costs.

Citing soaring costs and possible safety violations, activists have been trying to stop the operations of the chemical weapons incinerator at Johnston.

Environmentalists have lobbied for the closing of the facility on the island which also houses a U.S. wildlife refugee.

Hawaiian sovereignty activists would like to have the atoll under Hawaiian control.