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United States: Aberdeen Disposal Plans to be Accelerated The U.S. Army will destroy the 1,621-ton mustard gas stockpile at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland by the end of the year, three years ahead of schedule, army officials said yesterday. “After Sept. 11, clearly the army reassessed security measures at the stockpile,” said Kevin Flamm, project manager for alternative technologies and approaches in Aberdeen’s Office of the Project Manager for Chemical Demilitarization. “The best way to provide permanent security to the community is to destroy the stockpile.” The mustard gas will still be neutralized as planned using a hot water process, according to the Baltimore Sun. The army has simplified the gas canister cleaning process and has hired a commercial waste company to treat the neutralization byproduct, Flamm said. The new disposal plans will eliminate the need for a construction of a complex of buildings at Aberdeen, as per the old disposal plan, Flamm said (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2001). The planned “igloos,” however, will still be constructed to hold the gas canisters that need to be treated, said Maj. William Huber, commander of Edgewood Chemical Activity. The new disposal plan will use workers, instead of on-site robotics as previously planned, the Sun reported. “We’ve made some tradeoffs in risks, but we have not compromised safety,” Flamm said. The accelerated disposal effort will reduce the overall cost to about $400 million and save the army $200 million, said project spokeswoman Katherine DeWeese. U.S. Army Secretary Thomas White approved the plan last month. Aberdeen is the first of the army’s eight chemical weapons stockpiles to accelerate its disposal plans, according to the Sun. Disposal plans at the other stockpiles are to be reviewed, White said. Maryland state and local officials said they welcome the change. “I’m glad the army is willing to put the effort into doing it,” said Rick Collins, Maryland Department of the Environment’s waste management administration director. “I definitely believe there’s a significant risk reduction to the citizens of Maryland by eliminating the stockpile in an expedited fashion” (Lane Harvey Brown, Baltimore Sun, Jan. 10).
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