Veolia Helps the Army Dispose of Chemical Agents

Hundreds of containers dismantled and components recycle through a partnership among three Veolia companies: Industrial Services, Electronics Recycling Group and Technical Solutions.

Several decades ago when the cold war seemed to be much more threatening to our survival than environmental damage ever could be, the U.S. Army developed chemical agents and stored them in thousands of steel ton containers in various locations across America.  The cold war ended, environmental regulations tightened, and the Army was left with these containers, lined with residue requiring treatment and disposal in an environmentally compliant manner.

Developing a Plan

During the past few years, Veolia ES Technical Solutions worked with the Army to destroy a stockpile of neutralized VX nerve agent - over 420 isotainers of waste, approximately 4,000 gallons each, over an eighteen month period.  The Army had been pleased with the results of the project and asked Veolia for assistance in destroying 4,000 ton containers containing mercury and arsenic contaminated solids.  The containers are standard industrial containers, about six feet long and 2-1/2 feet in diameter.

"Last year, we accepted six containers on a trial basis," began Mitch Osborne, plant manager at Veolia's Port Arthur incineration facility.  "We knew there were thousands of these containers at bases all around the country, but we wanted to make sure we could treat them successfully before we accepted the entire project.

"The residue contained so much mercury that it had to be recovered.  We are shipping all the mercury for recycling to our Electronics Recycling Group in Wisconsin.  We asked one of our divisions to help; Veolia ES Industrial Services specializes in industrial cleaning and maintenance.  They were extremely helpful in figuring out how to dismantle the containers efficiently.  The scrap steel from the containers is also being recycled."

"We were not suited to deal with these types of waste internally," said Brian O'Donnell, Chief, Secondary Wate and Closure, U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, serving as the Contracting Officer's Representation (COR) for the project.  "One of the people I talked to about our options was Mitch Osborne at Veolia.  He mentioned that there were several groups at Veolia who could handle different portions of the project.  From my standpoint, the coordination has been seamless, Mitch has been our contact, and Veolia has performed all parts of the project very well."

When Veolia was asked to consider the job, Osborne responded, "We won't say we can do the job if we can't, but we think the Veolia network puts us in an unusual position of being able to manage the waste successfully.  We will only accept the work if we're sure we can develop a solution that is minimally distruptive for the Army bases and to the public."

Testing Procedures

There were several concerns with the initial test.  Veolia focused on developing an efficient methodology that required very difficult cutting and cleaning techniques.  They experimented with several approaches in the trial group and decided on a set of techniques that would work well.  When the first 200 containers arrived, however, they found they weren't able to achieve what they did during the trial, Industrial Services started over and was able to come up with an approach that has been quite effective.

During the pilot, several pails of mercury were extracted from the material sent for recycling.  The Electronics Recycling Group provided analytical reports showing how much mercury was contained in the residue, along with a breakdown of all the components of the residue.

Project Coordination

"The Port Arthur facility is coordinating the project, " notes Osborne, "and the work is being completed by all three groups - Technical Solutions, Industrial Services and the Electronics Recycling Group.  We're the coordinators, it's truly a collaborative effort among these three groups at Veolia.  Because we have so many different resources, we can complete unusual projects.  I don't know of any other company with our resources."

The Army had searched for other solutions.  The original company that was contracted for the project had been struggling for a solution for some time.  A company without the competencies for the job might be vulnerable legally.  The chemical agents in the containers were contaminated with mercury decades aglo.

"The Army didn't have a home for this project." say Osborne.  "Our people were creative enough to come up with a solution.  We will always deliver on what we commit to, and we'll tell you if we can't do something.  The project manager at the Army told me we were 'a breath of fresh air' and that our approach shaved years off the time they expected the project to last."