There are all these separate programs under the PMCD and they aren't talking to each other. Reacting to anti-incineration lawsuits, Congressional pressure and National Research Council studies, the Army agreed to pursue alternative treatment strategies at the four other sites. Each plant will follow a treatment scheme based on chemical neutralization. Contractors will build robust pilot plants that can be scaled up to full production as soon as the technology is successfully demonstrated. Any day, the Army will select one of two short-listed teams at Newport, one headed by Raytheon and another by Parsons.
Neutralization followed by biotreatment is the approach in Maryland.
Nearly 1,625 tons of mustard agent are stored in ton containers. Hot water is added to the agent, creating a sludge that can be biologically treated like wastewater. After dewatering, the remaining brine, laden with heavy metals, can be sent to a lined landfill. At Newport, VX will be neutralized as it is mixed with water and hot sodium hydroxide. Then the mixture goes into a supercritical water oxidation reactor, which yields harmless gases and phosphate and sulfate salts suitable for permitted landfill disposal.