Thirty gallons of VX spill during neutralization; nobody hurt

Leak poses no danger to community, workers

By Patricia L. Pastore/Tribune-Star

A VX leak inside the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility was contained without incident late Friday.

Officials at the Newport Chemical Depot reported "a spill containing nerve agent VX occurred at 11:30 p.m. Friday in a sealed, contained area of the Chemical Agent Disposal Facility," said spokeswoman Terry Arthur. She said no agent was released outside the containment area and there was no danger to workers or the community.

"There was no staff in the area at all," Arthur said.

Early Saturday, about 2:30 a.m. workers began cleaning up the spill with a mixture of sodium hydroxide and water, Arthur said. She said area is cleaned, monitored and treated again.

"This will be done over and over until no VX is detected," Arthur said. "It could take two days before it is decontaminated."

According to James Bennett, Army facilities representative, about 30 gallons of liquid, a mixture of VX and hydrolysate, the caustic chemical byproduct of VX neutralization, spilled when VX was being fed from a holding tank into a mixing tank, known as a reactor.

Two reactors are located within the Toxic Cubicle, which is designed so that no liquid or vapors can escape to other areas of the facility or into the atmosphere.

Reactors are the machines where VX is mixed with hot sodium hydroxide and water then agitated for about six hours to neutralized the nerve agent which produces the hydrolysate.

The leaked liquid drained into a sump in the sealed concrete floor, according to Bennett. He said now that liquid is in a tank designed to hold spent decontaminated liquid.

Cleanup operations, which require workers to enter the Toxic Cubicle wearing protective equipment was to be performed Saturday, Arthur said. She said after cleanup the workers will investigate the cause of the leak.

"The sump and decontamination systems worked exactly as designed," Bennett said. "This is just one of several backup systems we have put in place to ensure the safety of our workers, the public and the environment."

This incident occurred about 10 hours after Jeff Brubaker, government site manager announced VX neutralization would be suspended for about a week so staff on each of the four shifts can compare notes about the VX destruction process over the past five weeks, which has been very successful, Brubaker said.

The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency is responsible for safely storing and eliminating the United States aging chemical weapons and agent stockpiles and for the safe elimination of recovered chemical material.

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

Story created Jun 13, 2005 - 11:06:36 CDT