[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, FUDS: Spring Valley (DC) cleanup

[Lenny Siegel <lennysiegel@gmail.com>]

Digging up chemical weapons in D.C.

After World War I, munitions including shells of poisonous liquid 
mustard were buried in a then-rural area. The cleanup has forced 
evacuations at American University and prompted concerns about illness.

By Bob Drogin
Los Angeles Times
May 9, 2010

Reporting from Washington

Greg Nielson pushed a joystick, and a video camera zoomed in on three 
men in moon suits and gas masks as they prepared to blow up a weapon of 
mass destruction less than five miles from the White House.

Later, the crew slid the rusting World War I artillery shell into a 
small steel vault and sealed the door. They detonated a shaped explosive 
charge to cut the projectile open, and pumped in reagent to neutralize 
its contents: liquid mustard, an infamous chemical warfare agent.

The process is "as safe as sliced bread," said Nielson, the operation 
leader, at a control panel in a nearby trailer. "Maybe safer."

The destruction of five poison-filled shells and 20 other suspect items 
ended last week. But the strange saga of America's most unusual 
hazardous waste site is far from over.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chem-bomb-20100510,0,3617170.story

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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