[CPEO-MEF] Nerve agent destruction begins

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

First batch of VX successfully destroyed
Army tests show undetectable levels remain in byproduct of deadly nerve 
agent.

By Tammy Webber
Indianapolis Star (IN)
May 10, 2005

Two more containers of the deadly Cold War-era nerve agent VX will be 
destroyed this week, after extensive tests over the weekend confirmed 
the first container was destroyed last week, U.S. Army officials said 
Monday.

"I'm more than ecstatic right about now," said Jeffrey L. Brubaker, 
project manager at the Newport Chemical Depot in Vermillion County, 
where more than 250,000 gallons of VX have been stored in about 1,600 
1-ton containers for the past 36 years.

Each ton container holds up to 180 gallons of VX, a chemical so deadly 
that a single pinpoint drop could kill an adult in minutes.

On Friday, the first container was destroyed in two 1,000-gallon 
reactors. Half of the VX was fed into each reactor, where it was mixed 
with water and sodium hydroxide and heated to 194 degrees for several 
hours to break down the agent.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050510/NEWS01/505100420

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org



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