Contractor seeks permission to store VX byproduct

Army hopes to begin neutralization in August or September, official says

By Patricia L. Pastore/Tribune-Star

May 24, 2004

The contractor operating the facility to destroy VX nerve agent at Newport has submitted a permit modification to the state that will allow for storage of the VX byproduct.

Parsons Technology Inc. has submitted the modification request to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.

The modification would allow 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of VX hydrolysate to be stored in each of 48 intermodal containers at the Newport site for more than 90 days.

"We hope to begin neutralization operations in August or September," Jeffrey Brubaker, Army site project manager, said Friday. "Last week, IDEM told us the permit modification won't be an issue. It's expected before the August time frame."

The Army's objective is to destroy 1,269 tons of the deadly Cold War chemical munition stored at the Newport Chemical Depot.

Its destruction by neutralization will create about 4 million gallons of hydrolysate, a caustic, toxic hazardous waste that needs further treatment before disposal.

The Army should be able to store the hydrolysate on-site in the destruction facility and intermodal containers for more than six months, Brubaker has said.

"You will see this plant start whether we ship or not," Col. Jesse L. Barber, project manager of the Army's Alternative Technologies and Approach Project, said April 1. Then, the proposed startup date was June.

The Army's plan to truck the VX neutralization waste from Newport to DuPont Deepwater treatment facility in New Jersey may have hit a snag since environmental organizations and congressmen from New Jersey and Delaware are opposed to the plan.

DuPont in March produced a 350-page treatability study touting the safety of their method of treating the nerve agent waste before dumping it into the Delaware River.

Numerous environmental groups and lawmakers oppose the plan and have recommended the Army both destroy the VX and treat its hydrolysate at Newport.

The Army received more than 750 comments on its Environmental Impact Statement.

Most of the responses opposed shipping the hydrolysate from Newport to the New Jersey site, Brubaker said.

"We are in the process of reviewing those comments," he said.

The Vermillion County Board of Commissioners passed a resolution to prohibit VX hydrolysate from being transported over county highways and roads.

The Army has no plans at present other than off-site treatment at a commercial hazardous waste treatment facility, Brubaker said.

Nerve agent VX is a member of the organo-phosphate family , similar to present-day pesticides. It is a clear, odorless and tasteless, straw-colored liquid that is heavier than water and evaporates 2,000 times more slowly.

An amount of VX the size of a BB can be lethal.