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Environment

Off-site disposal of waste from chemical agent destruction

July 30, 2007 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 85, Issue 31

A National Research Council committee studying the disposal of wastes generated from the destruction of chemical warfare agents concludes that it is "technically feasible and advantageous" for the U.S. Army "to use off-site facilities to dispose of" these wastes. Such secondary wastes include the spent activated carbon used in incinerator filtration systems, brine solutions, dunnage such as wooden pallets, metal from munitions or ton containers, plastics used in demilitarization protective equipment, and spent decontamination solutions. Off-site commercial Resource Conservation & Recovery Act, approved facilities would treat the secondary wastes transferred from the Army's four operating incinerator-based disposal sites and the single operating neutralization facility. The committee also concludes that a RCRA provision allowing data from trial burns-test runs to prove the destruction efficacy of incinerators-be used in place of conducting additional trial burns at another disposal facility using a similar incinerator. Craig Williams, executive director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, calls NRC's conclusions "another NRC rubber-stamp endorsement of whatever the Army proposes as a method to pursue its disposal program plans." CWWG represents communities near the Army's chemical agent disposal sites. Williams bemoans the lack of community involvement in NRC's deliberations.

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