Study: Transporting depot wastes not worth
the hassle
SHIPPING
PROBLEMS MIGHT NULLIFY POTENTIAL SAVINGS
By Peter Mathews
CENTRAL KENTUCKY BUREAU
RICHMOND - A study team has recommended against
transporting the caustic wastes that will be produced when chemical weapons
are destroyed at Blue Grass Army Depot. The proposal was one of 10 cost-cutting measures being studied for the
$2 billion neutralization plant, which is being redesigned to make it smaller
and cheaper. At the plant, the depot's 523 tons of nerve and blister agent will be chemically
decomposed and neutralized. This will produce some 6 million gallons of waste
called hydrolysates -- a mix of water, the industrial chemical thiodiglycol,
salts, metals and organic compounds. Plans call for the hydrolysates to be broken down further by supercritical
water oxidation, a process akin to a pressure cooker. The team was asked to
study whether it would be cheaper to transport the wastes to a facility out
of state instead. The answer: Under perfect conditions, that could save up to $60 million.
But public opposition and the need to change regulatory permits and buy more
sensitive detection equipment reduced the potential savings substantially.
In the worst case, transporting the waste wound up costing more. "We didn't feel it was a good gamble, and that's what it came down to,"
said Jim Richmond, risk management team leader for Assembled Chemical Weapons
Alternatives, the agency overseeing chemical destruction in Richmond and in
Pueblo, Colo. He briefed members of a local citizens' advisory board on the study yesterday.
That group voted in July to oppose transportation of the waste. The study team's conclusions are just a recommendation. The final decision
will be made by the Pentagon.