Nerve Agent
Destruction Halted in Indiana after 500-Gallon Wastewater Spill
October 31, 2005 — By Associated Press
NEWPORT, Ind. — Army contractors
halted operations Saturday at a western Indiana complex built to destroy
a deadly nerve agent after nearly 500 gallons of caustic wastewater
spilled in a contained area.
No workers were injured or exposed to the hydrolysate, a byproduct of
the destruction of the agent, when it leaked onto the floor of a sealed
area at the Newport Chemical Depot, depot spokesman Dennis Lindsey said.
The facility was to be shut down until the spill was cleaned up and its
cause determined, Lindsey said.
The western Indiana facility destroys the Cold War-era chemical weapon
VX using a mixture of heated sodium hydroxide and water. A droplet is
enough to kill a healthy human.
The leak occurred in a recirculation loop that workers use to take
samples of material to ensure that each batch of chemically neutralized
VX contains no trace of the nerve agent.
In May, workers for Army contractor Parsons Technology Inc. began
destroying more than 250,000 gallons of VX. The project was halted in
June after a leak allowed about 30 gallons of VX, sodium hydroxide and
water to spill in a contained area.
Work resumed in late August; Lindsey said the valve system that was
replaced after the June incident worked properly during the latest leak.
Pending federal approval, the Army plans to ship millions of gallons of
hydrolysate to a DuPont Inc., plant in New Jersey for treatment and
eventual discharge into the Delaware River.
Source: Associated Press |