VX destruction won't begin this year

By Patricia L. Pastore/Tribune-Star

December 2, 2004

VX destruction won't begin this year, despite the Army repeatedly insisting continued storage of the deadly nerve agent poses the greatest risk.

"Yes, it is costly to sit and wait," said Jeff Brubaker, Army project site manager at the Newport Chemical Weapon Destruction Facility at Newport's Chemical Depot. Brubaker referred to the $360,000 daily combined expense for operations at the facility and Chemical Depot.

John Stewart of Parsons Technologies Inc., the company the Army contracted to design, build and operate the VX neutralization plant, has said the destruction facility and staff are ready to destroy the 1,269 tons of nerve agent VX.

Brubaker also admitted there is ample storage capability on-site to store VX hydrolysate, the byproduct of VX neutralization. He also said Parsons has "demonstrated and validated readiness to being operations."

He said the Army has a valid reason not to proceed at this time.

"The Army and the Department of Defense made a prior commitment not to go forward without the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention review," Brubaker said.

Nothing is definite concerning a date for VX destruction.

"I can't speculate on any timeline without reviewing the CDC report," Brubaker said. He doesn't know when the CDC report will be ready, he said.

He said when startup begins, Parsons will use the new recipe for VX destruction. He said by using 8 percent by weight VX mixed with sodium hydroxide and water that is heated and agitated in the reactor, the resulting hydrolysate meets the Army's non-detectable standard of 20 parts VX per billion or less.

Slowly, the amount of VX is expected to increase to 16 percent by weight, Brubaker said.

The Army's choice for disposing of the caustic hydrolysate is off-site treatment at a commercial hazardous waste facility. DuPont Chambers Works Plant in New Jersey is working on this project.

Brubaker said the upper layer of the hydrolysate, which was potentially flammable, has been eliminated by using the new formula for VX neutralization.

"It eliminates the flammability hazard," he said, noting the improvement renders hydrolysate safer to transport.

Environmental groups near the DuPont treatment plant such as Delaware Riverkeepers and Green Delaware are among those against VX hydrolysate being transported from Newport to the DuPont facility in New Jersey.

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