VX destruction shaky
Problems at plant
delaying process to eliminate nerve agent
By Tammy
Webber
A $533 million western Indiana plant built to destroy the world's deadliest
chemical has been idle nearly half of the time since it began operations
six months ago, plagued by equipment and other unforeseen problems.
The latest problem at the U.S. Army's Newport Chemical Depot in Vermillion
County, near the Illinois border, occurred Oct. 29 when an as-yet-undiagnosed
problem caused a spill of almost 500 gallons of the caustic chemical byproduct
created during destruction of the Cold War-era nerve agent VX.
The spill, the plant's third, forced officials to halt operations for the
second time since the process began May 5.
Work also had come to a stop most of the summer, triggered by a June 10
spill blamed on faulty valves. The facility remained closed after a second,
smaller spill in July during a testing procedure and the discovery that the
byproduct was more flammable than thought. Operations resumed in late August,
after the valves were replaced and officials learned how to reduce the byproduct's
flammability.
Newport spokeswoman Terry Arthur said the valves involved in previous mishaps
have been ruled out as the cause of last week's spill, which occurred in
a loop of pipes in which VX is destroyed.
"We're looking at pipes, flanges, gaskets and all kinds of joints," Arthur
said.
Since 1969, more than 250,000 gallons of VX, so deadly a single drop can
kill a healthy adult in minutes, have been stored in 1,600 hardened steel
containers at the Newport depot, the only place where the United States
ever manufactured the agent. A mixture of hot sodium hydroxide and water
has been used to successfully neutralize more than 6,500 gallons since May.
The Army and Parsons Corp., the contractor handling the project, as well
as watchdog groups and residents, said they're not surprised -- or alarmed
-- by the problems. The spills occurred in a sealed room designed to contain
them, and they posed no danger to workers or the public, officials said.
It was expected that there would be problems when full-scale
production began, because engineering of the plant was based only on laboratory-scale
testing of VX. Also, there have been similar problems and delays at other
weapons disposal sites, Army officials said.
"This (latest spill) doesn't seem too disconcerting," said Lois Kleffman,
spokeswoman for the citizen watchdog organization Chemical Weapons Working
Group. "There is no way to anticipate exactly what is going to happen."
Jeffrey Linblad, a spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency,
said the problem is not with the technology or processes in Newport, because
the facility has been proven to successfully destroy VX. Engineers must
ensure all of the equipment, however, can hold up under the caustic wastewater.
Newport's problems don't stand out because there have
been unexpected problems at every other facility where weapons destruction
has taken place, Linblad said.
At Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, for example, destruction of bulk
mustard agent "went through stops and starts" for the first 16 months while
engineers for another contractor, Bechtel, worked out kinks. Only half of
the agent was destroyed during that time, but once all of the problems were
solved, the other half was destroyed within four months, Linblad said. That
project ended in March, five months behind schedule.
"You are going to find challenges; you can't anticipate anything," he said.
"We know things like that could happen. If it happens, we address it."
The question some are asking now is whether the job in Newport will be
done by its target date of November 2007.
The Army said it expected all of the VX would be destroyed on schedule,
because a buffer was built into the project's timeline. Army officials said
they hope the facility will be at full operation by January and will be able
to destroy at least four containers of VX per day.
"It's going to take what it takes," Arthur said. "We are doing it slowly
and deliberately."
Some residents said they believe the Army is overly
confident in its ability to finish on time and within budget. Parsons, based
in California, is expected to be paid $466 million for operating the plant
by the time destruction is complete, officials said.
"I think there is going to be a long string of these (delays)," said Leonard
Akers, who lives near the depot. "I think this is just a preview of coming
attractions."
Indiana environmental officials said they want the VX
destroyed as quickly as possible.
"The timeline probably is the overarching concern," said Thomas Linson,
chief of the permitting branch in the Indiana Department of Environmental
Management's office of land quality. "It's in everybody's interest to get
the VX destroyed as soon as possible, but we want it to occur safely."
Call Star reporter Tammy Webber at (317) 444-6212.
