Facility to Resume VX Nerve Agent Destruction

Workers at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility plan to resume destroying a stockpile of deadly VX nerve agent this week after reviewing lessons learned from the first five weeks of operations.

The planned break coincided with a June 10 spill of a chemical byproduct that was cleaned up within a few days, and officials used the break to meet with employees to review ways to improve procedures.

Over the next two years, contractors hope to neutralize more than 250,000 gallons of VX kept at the depot by mixing it with heated water and sodium hydroxide in chemical reactors.