Report: Chemical Waste Can Be Safely Incinerated

Date: December 5, 2002

Source: News Room

America's arsenal of chemical weapons can be safely incinerated at a few sites around the country, despite the chemical releases and violations at the only two operational incinerators, according to a new report by the National Research Council, a branch of the National Academies of Science. The report did not offer a perspective on whether incineration was preferable to other methods of neutralizing the chemical agents. Under an international treaty, the United States agreed to dispose of 31,500 tons of deadly nerve agents and toxic blister agents by 2007, although the Defense Department has said it will likely miss that deadline by two to three years. The project is expected to cost $24 billion. About a quarter of the stockpile has been destroyed at weapons incinerators in Tooele, Utah, and on Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

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