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GAO-07-240R 1 (2007-01-26)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaush0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Sai Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 January 26, 2007 Congressional Committees Subject: Chemical Demilitarization: Actions Needed to Improve the Reliability of the Army's Cost Comparison Analysis for Treatment and Disposal Options for Newport's VXHydrolysate The U.S. stockpile of 1,269 tons of VX nerve agent' stored at the Newport Chemical Depot (Newport), Indiana, is one of nine stockpiles that the Department of Defense (DOD) must destroy in response to congressional direction initially provided in 1985. In addition, the stockpile must be destroyed to comply with the requirements of the Chemical Weapons Convention,2 which the United States became a party to in 1997. The stockpile at Newport is the first U.S. stockpile containing VX that will be destroyed by using neutralization-a process that mixes hot water and sodium hydroxide (a caustic chemical) with VX to change the chemical composition to a less toxic form. The resulting by-product is a liquid wastewater commonly referred to as hydrolysate that consists mostly of water but also has a caustic component and organic salts that need further treatment to meet Chemical Weapons Convention requirements and to meet federal and state environmental requirements for disposal. The Army, DOD's designated executive agent, began neutralizing Newport's VX stockpile on-site in May 2005 and, as of December 1, 2006, reports neutralizing about 34 percent of the stockpile. None of the generated hydrolysate-expected to be about 2 million gallons when the neutralization process is completed-has been treated. The hydrolysate is being stored on-site until a post-treatment plan can be implemented. The Army has been evaluating options for treating the hydrolysate since the mid-1990s. Through these evaluations, on-site supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) was initially selected as the preferred option in 1999, but the preferred option was subsequently changed in 2002 to using an off-site commercial treatment facility because of concerns about the continued storage of the stockpile after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and numerous technical challenges identified during one-tenth scale engineering testing. The Army's plan for the treatment and disposal of the hydrolysate was to transport it from Newport to an off-site commercial treatment and disposal facility-the DuPont 'VX is a rapid-acting, lethal nerve agent that affects the nervous system by interfering with the signals sent from the brain to vital organs. Nerve agents are the most toxic and rapidly acting of known chemical warfare agents. 2 The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the use of chemical weapons and specifies deadlines for signatories, of which the United States is one, to destroy unitary stockpiles. The final deadline to destroy existing stockpiles is April 29, 2012. GAO-07-240R Chemical Demilitarization

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