Nerve Agent Destruction Halted in Ind. After 500-Gallon Wastewater Spill

ap.tbo ^ | Oct 30, 2005 | AP

[ncountylee]

NEWPORT, Ind. (AP) - 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.

[ncountylee]

Could use that in Iran, Syria or North Korea.

[U S Army EOD]

OOPs.

[CalvaryJohn]

They've been destroying our stockpiles of nerve agent since I was in the Army in 1990- another great example of gubmint efficiency and respect for our tax dollars.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Quick - someone run over to Home Depot and get a bunch of wet-dry shop vacs!

[Lokibob]

1. We have not used gas (chemical warfare) in any form since WW1.

2. The chemical warfare stockpile is 50+years old. and very unstable.

3. The largest stockpile of VX has been destroyed without an accident in Utah.

4. We have no use for chemical agent munitions, nor do we anticipate ever having any use for them.

[Lokibob]

"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."

Real bad sentence. Ok, the VX is bad stuff, but the by product is no longer VX, it is, however, still hasardous waste. The story sounds like 500 gals of VX spilled.

[HiTech RedNeck]

No lye!

[clee1]

Correction. We have not used deadly chemical agents since WWI; however, that statement is open to debate. Anybody remember Agent Orange? CS and hydrolytic blister agents (skin and inhalation irritants) are still part of our stockpile and can be used when conditions indicate.

[U S Army EOD]

Check out what happened in Italy when the Germans bombed the ship with the mustard gas on it some time.

[U S Army EOD]

Huh?

[Lokibob]

You are absolutely right. Agent Orange is a chemicla agent. However, again, we will never use agent orange again.

[solitas]

4. We have no use for chemical agent munitions, nor do we anticipate ever having any use for them...

...as much as those murdering sand-[ethnic_slur]s deserve them.

[rahbert]

Agent Orange was used as a defoliant, not as an antipersonnel agent.

[Americanwolf]

no but it became one of the unexpected side effects unfortunately

[glorgau]

Check out what happened in Italy when the Germans bombed the ship with the mustard gas on it some time.

see the Bari Harbor incident