Destruction of VX Underway
( Air Date: 5/5/2005 )

The process of destroying a deadly nerve agent stored a US Army Chemical Depot in Vermillion County has finally begun.

For the past eight months, Depot workers have trained for this day.

Thursday morning, two large containers of VX were taken from storage to a disposal facility at the Depot near Newport.

The containers were drained, rinsed, and monitored.

Lt. Col. Scott Kimmell, Commander of the Newport Chemical Depot, said "We delivered VX filled containers from the storage area to the Newport Chemical Depot Agent Disposal facility, it was very well executed just as we had planned with safety as our number one priority."

Those at the Depot should know by Monday if the neutralization process works as expected.

If all goes as planned, the rest of the VX will be destroyed over a two-and-a-half year period.