By Patricia L. Pastore/Tribune-Star

Final preparations are under way at the Newport Chemical Disposal Facility, where workers are just days away from starting the destruction of VX nerve agent.

Col. Jesse Barber, Chemical Materials Agency's project manager of Alternative and Approaches, goes over his checklist every day in anticipation of startup, he said.

The 1,269 tons of the deadly nerve agent VX has been stored at the Newport Chemical Depot since the 1960s.

A drop of VX the size of a BB can be lethal, the Army has said.

Destruction of this nerve-agent stockpile will remove the risk of a terrorist target and the risk of continued storage.

Barber said two one-ton steel containers of nerve agent will be transferred from storage igloos to the disposal facility every week for the first six months of operations.

He said the nerve agent will be drained from the containers and placed in a reactor with heated sodium hydroxide and hot water and then agitated for the length of time needed until it tests 20 parts per billion or less, which is considered un-detectable and poses no danger to mankind.

"It will be a very slow, very deliberated startup," Barber said. He expects to begin with 8 percent by weight load and gradually increase the VX to 16 percent by weight.

During the first six months, Barber said, the crew may try one or two 16 percent-by-weight loads to test the reactor.

When the agent is destroyed and tested to confirm complete agent destruction, then the waste, hydrolysate, a caustic byproduct of neutralization, will be transported to temporary on-site storage tanks.

The Army plans to ship the hydrolysate to a commercial hazardous waste site where it will be further treated before final disposal.

The Army expects the agent disposal facility to be shut down for planned maintenance, Barber said. He said he has built into the 30-month schedule sufficient time to allow for Murphy's Law since this is the first time VX has ever been neutralized in the full-scale reactors.

Barber does not expect any problems, however he is allowing time for repairs if necessary, he said.

"I'm just factoring Murphy's into it," he said, referring to the facetious or satirical premise that if there is a possibility of something to go wrong, it will go wrong.

Barber is steadfast about his main objective: safety.

"We are protective of the work force and the public," he said. "Nothing we do will put either of them at risk."

Chemical agent monitoring is a constant.

Monitoring within the depot is a vital part of processing VX.

More than 70 chemical-agent monitors are placed in and around the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, with more then 4,400 samples taken daily. Other monitors continuously sample the air for chemical agent vapor and give a reading within minutes.

Barber said the air-monitoring systems in place are state-of-the art. He said they meet or exceed state and federal requirements.

Every employee responsible for some aspect of facility operations at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility received over 400 hours of facility-specific training and have been certified by subject matter experts on all aspects of their individual jobs.

One-third of the work force had experience safely handling and destroying chemical weapons before joining the Newport team.

Barber said he is proud of this well-trained team.

"I'm getting excited," he said Thursday. "We will begin agent destruction between May 5 and May 15.

"If we have any problems along the way, we'll stop and correct the situation and then move on," Barber said.

He said he is confident the stockpile will be destroyed without incident.

Patricia Pastore can be reached at (812)231-4271 or pat.pastore@tribstar.com.

Story created Apr 29, 2005 - 09:17:05 CDT.