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U.S. Army Set to Delay VX Destruction at Newport Depot
The U.S. Army expects to delay destruction of its VX nerve agent stockpile at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana due to the discovery that approximately half of the chemical agent contains a stabilizing agent that takes more time to process, the Terre Haute, Ind., Tribune-Star reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 24). Of the 1,269 tons of VX stored at Newport, about 46 percent contains DIC stabilizer, while the remainder contains DCC or a blend of the two compounds, said Army site manager Jeff Brubaker. “The difference, as it applies to the neutralization process, is that it may be necessary to process the DCC or DCC-DIC blended stock for longer periods,” he said. “This factor has the potential to extend our schedule for destroying the entire Newport stockpile, but should not affect our ability to begin destruction operations.” Once neutralization is complete, the Army still plans to ship the approximately 4 million gallons of resulting VX hydrolysate to a commercial hazardous wastewater treatment plant run by DuPont in New Jersey. In August, the Army had expected VX destruction to begin between October and December, Brubaker said. Due to a series of delays, Newport Chemical Depot is not expected to meet the requirements of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which mandates the destruction of such weapons by 2007. “Though the United States will not meet the original treaty deadline set for April 2007, the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has granted an extension of the 45 percent destruction milestone from April 2004 to December 2007,” Brubaker said. “The United States, the Army and workers at the Newport Chemical Depot are committed to eliminating the chemical weapon stockpile as safely and expeditiously as possible, thereby eliminating the risk these weapons pose to our community, our workers and our environment” (Patricia Pastore, Terre Haute, Ind., Tribune-Star, Sept. 16).
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