Army Resumes Disposal of VX Nerve Gas

CHEMICAL WEAPONS

VX nerve gas destruction at the Army's Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, in Indiana, resumed on Sept. 14. Neutralization of the nerve gas was halted in June in part because tests found the caustic wastewater, dubbed hydrolysate, to be flammable. Diisopropylamine (DIPA) was fingered as the culprit.

Army engineers, Project Manager Jeffrey Brubaker says, found the recipe for reducing flammability. According to Brubaker, the solution is to mix VX with hot water and sodium hydroxide at 194 °F for one hour. Then the temperature in the reactor is lowered to 150 °F for the remainder of the neutralization process. While neutralization is occurring, nitrogen is passed through the reactor to reduce the level of DIPA in the hydrolysate.

Jeffrey Lindblad, spokesman for the Army's Chemical Materials Agency, says the caustic wastewater produced is being stored on-site in "four intermodal containers" until the Army receives the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention's (CDC) approval to ship it off-site for additional treatment. Until the flammability problem surfaced, a DuPont facility in New Jersey was to receive the hydrolysate for secondary treatment and ultimate discharge into the Delaware River.

There is opposition in New Jersey and Delaware to off-site treatment, and DuPont's operating permit does not yet allow for receipt of hydrolysate. Approval depends to a great degree on CDC's recommendation that transporting and treating the hydrolysate off-site is safe for the environment and the health of workers. CDC spokeswoman Rachel Powell says, "We don't yet have a date for when the final VX report will be released," but it is not likely for several months. At press time, about 4,250 gal of VX had been neutralized and stored at Newport.