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Safety Concerns Delay Newport VX Neutralization
The U.S. Army has delayed VX nerve agent destruction at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana after nearly 200 operational and safety concerns were uncovered during a test run, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 16). The neutralization project, which had been scheduled to begin by September, has been delayed until sometime between October and December, said Army site project manager Jeff Brubaker. Among the changes recommended by two teams of government monitors following last month’s tests are: installing more air-monitoring equipment, increasing backup power in the laboratory and eliminating condensation dripping from air ducts. “Some of these were safety-related, but none of them were show-stoppers,” said Army spokeswoman Terry Arthur. The first monitoring team consisted of top Army officials, while the second included representatives from the Army, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, according to AP. The CDC is examining the Army’s chemical agent destruction method, plans to ship neutralization waste to New Jersey, and whether a DuPont Inc. plant there can safely treat and dispose of the waste. The Army’s plan cannot go forward until the agency completes its review, the AP reported. There is no timeline for the review and submission of the findings to Congress, CDC spokeswoman Stephanie Creel said yesterday. “We don’t want to rush this. We want to do the best science we can, but we understand the need to do it well and do it quickly,” Creel said (Rick Callahan, Associated Press/Indianapolis Star, Aug. 24).
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