NEWPORT, Ind. -- The Army will begin this spring destroying the deadly VX nerve agent stockpiled at a western Indiana chemical depot and will store the byproduct there until a decision is made on how to treat and dispose of it, an official said.

Jeff Brubaker, government site project manager at the Newport Chemical Depot, said Tuesday that he expects the 1,269 tons of VX to be destroyed in 2 1/2 years.

Senior Army officials gave their approval Monday, Brubaker said.

"The result was a decision to proceed with final planning leading up to the start of agent operations," Brubaker said. "This decision moves the Army one step closer to our mission to destroy the chemical agent stockpile stored here."

The VX neutralization at the depot about 30 miles north of Terre Haute is expected to create 4 million gallons of a chemical byproduct called hydrolysate that requires additional treatment before disposal.

The VX -- a liquid with the consistency of mineral oil that can kill a healthy adult male with a single pinpoint droplet -- has been stockpiled at the depot since it was created in the 1960s.

Army officials want to transport the hydrolysate -- which has been compared to liquid drain cleaner -- to a DuPont plant in New Jersey for treatment and disposal in the Delaware River. The plan has sparked opposition in New Jersey and Delaware.

The Army is still waiting for a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its review of the plan to haul the hazardous waste from Newport to New Jersey for final treatment and disposal.

Parsons Technologies, the company the Army contracted to destroy the VX, has said it is ready to proceed with neutralization.

Before that can begin, the Army still has a few administrative details to work out, Brubaker said. Workers at the depot must successfully complete a 45-day pre-operational demonstration.

Final site security lockdown is scheduled for next week, and the demonstration will begin then, Brubaker said.

The Army also will need to update its documentation for the National Environmental Policy Act to address the impact of onsite storage of the caustic wastewater, he said.

And Congress must be notified 30 days in advance of beginning destruction.

"We are expending $9 million a month, $360,000 a day, at the depot," Brubaker said. "It just makes sense to move forward. The work force has shown it is focused on destroying the agent safely."