[CPEO-MEF] Nerve agent cleanup critiqued

[CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org>]

Ohio
BEACON JOURNAL
Nerve agent cleanup critiqued
Consultant says company should correct problems before winning contract
Posted on Mon, Oct. 06, 2003

DAYTON - A company shouldn't dispose of a byproduct created by the
destruction of a deadly nerve agent until it corrects air pollution
problems and redoes a trial run for the process, said a consultant hired
by the county.

Bruce Rittmann, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at
Northwestern University, was hired by the Montgomery County
commissioners to evaluate the safety of Perma-Fix Environmental Services
Inc.'s plan to dispose of 300,000 gallons of hydrolysate, a byproduct
created in the destruction of VX nerve agent.

The Army has proposed awarding the suburban Jefferson Township company a
$9 million contract to get rid of hydrolysate from its Newport Chemical
Depot 200 miles away in western Indiana. The project would start next
year.

Rittmann examined documentation of lab trials of the disposal process in
which Perma- Fix used small quantities of hydrolysate.

``The real test is how they respond to this input and whether they can
take a constructive approach,'' he told the Dayton Daily News for a
story on Sunday. ``If they think they can't improve on it, maybe they
need (to take) another path.''

Rittmann said Perma-Fix inadequately monitored its lab trials, failing
to document that the process went as planned each step of the way. He
said the lab tests should be redone.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/local/6943635.htm

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