U.S. Army to Declare Local Former Production Facility Destroyed; OPCW officials inspect Newport Chemical Depot site

NEWPORT CHEMICAL DEPOT, Ind., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency has again reached a major milestone in its effort to comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty of 1997.

Last month, officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspected the site here where the former Newport VX Production Facility once stood. Under terms of the treaty, all former chemical weapon production facilities must be destroyed by April 29, 2007. This final inspection will generate a letter to CMA, and once received, treaty-declared demolition here will be complete.

The Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project, a division of CMA, has worked to meet treaty goals here since 1998. Teamed with the Tennessee Valley Authority, NSCMP accomplished this task without a workforce or environmental incident.

"This is a major milestone for not only the Army, but the nation," said NSCMP Project Manager Laurence G. Gottschalk. "We've faced the hazards of destroying a facility that hasn't operated since the late '60s - while always keeping safety and the environment our top priorities."

Demolition occurred in two phases. The first phase removed structures and equipment used in the nerve agent pre-production process. The second phase involved removing facilities associated with the actual production of agent. This included buildings, pipe racks, a flare tower and bulk agent storage tanks. NSCMP recycled more than five million pounds of scrap metal during the process.

Throughout the project, NSCMP looked for ways to make destruction more cost and environmentally efficient, according to Site Manager Don Benton.

Benton referenced a public meeting held July 2005. The meeting was the result of a change in plan in how to destroy the site's eight bulk agent storage tanks; these tanks were the size of tractor trailers, and once held quantities of nerve agent produced at the facility.

The meeting gave the public its chance to see a new technology proposed to treat the tanks. This technology used electrical resistance heating instead of rinsing and cutting. As a result of public input, NSCMP decided to use the heating method. This decision saved time and money, and also eliminated large quantities of liquid and solid wastes.

Although treaty-declared destruction is now complete, NSCMP will continue other environmental work on location. Treating piping recovered during previous destruction phases is next on the agenda. This piping is not part of the treaty-declared material.

Kevin Flamm, CMA's Program Manager for the Elimination of Chemical Weapons, emphasized the complexity of work at a site that once produced more than 4,400 tons of nerve agent. He stressed the importance of reaching treaty destruction goals here safely and nearly a year ahead of schedule.

"I am very proud of this very significant accomplishment," said Flamm. "Despite the hazards and complexities associated with this project, the team implemented several creative solutions to safely expedite the project while reducing cost."

To meet treaty requirements for destruction of all U.S. former production facilities, CMA has parts of two former production capabilities remaining - a building at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Ark., that once produced binary chemical precursors and is now being used to destroy those precursors; and a building at the Edgewood Area of Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., that once produced mustard agent. Shaw Environmental, Inc. is scheduled to destroy the building at Pine Bluff Arsenal. TVA, a federal agency with experience dismantling former chemical plants, will destroy the building at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

NSCMP is confident it will meet the April 29, 2007 deadline.