Corps Claims No Public Safety Plan Needed for WMD Disposal in DC

DC City Council Joint Public Hearing (3/29/10)

"The longest running play in America is here in Washington and it is named Shear Madness, which in my view is exactly what this decision is," said Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Stu Ross. "Just pause and think for a moment about what would happen if someone got it wrong." Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Thomas Smith added, "As history has shown us, accidents happen. It would be nice to know there is a plan in place that is more detailed than somebody saying, 'Whoops.'"
NBC 4
Washington, DC
March 30, 2010

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not developed a public safety plan for responding should an accident occur during next month’s destruction of chemical munitions in Spring Valley ... Prior to allowing work to begin, technicians will monitor weather conditions to ensure that in the event of a release the chemical plume would not pose a threat by the time it could reach the residential neighborhood, which is 380 feet from the demolition site.

“As the plume moves away from the origin point, it becomes more and more dilute, and so when it reaches [that] distance it is so dilute that there’s no way it could cause a health threat anymore,” said Dan Noble, the Army Corps Spring Valley project manager.
Ian Thomas
Northwest Current
March 31, 2010 (pg. 1)

Artillery Shells Found on Ground alongside Dalecarlia Parkway

Two 90-year-old artillery shells were found in flagged area

Up until the snow storm in early February, preparations for the geophysical survey of the Dalecarlia Parkway/DC right-of-way area continued. The team continued removal of underbrush and bamboo as well as the clearance of any metallic surface debris. During the surface clearance, two munition debris items, both from 75 mm munition items were recovered. Neither posed any hazard to workers or the community.
Spring Valley Project Monthly Update
February 2010

Shells found on range fan yards west of Dalecarlia Parkway

Lend a Helping Hand to Re-brand "Operation Safe Removal"

Since 1993, the Army Corps of Engineers have marched under the banner Operation Safe Removal. Considering their arduous efforts, and how much removal they’ve done, the Army must be exhausted by now. Their operation name is exhausted, too — it just doesn’t seem to fit anymore. You can help refresh that tired Army operation by creating a new name, logo, or tag line. How? By entering the Environmental Health Group's re-brand "Operation Safe Removal" contest. See details at ...
Re-Brand Operation Safe Removal
April Fool Contest

Chemical Weapons To be Neutralized Next to Reservoir within Six Weeks

The RCWM (Recovered Chemical Warfare Materiel) is destroyed on site using the EDS. The EDS is a mobile treatment system designed to destroy RCWM. The EDS would be transported to the SVFUDS federal property and staged near the current storage facilities ... The EDS uses explosive cutting charges to open the munitions, followed by addition of neutralizing agents that neutralize the chemical agent. The explosive detonation and chemical neutralization process is conducted within a stainless steel containment vessel which contains the blast, vapors and fragments ... The liquid and solid wastes are containerized and shipped off-site to a permitted TSDF. 
Disposal of Recovered Chemical Warfare Materiel
Action Memorandum, Spring Valley FUDS
February 2010

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' recent decision to destroy chemical and conventional weapons behind Sibley Hospital some time in April, raises a number of unanswered questions ... Army officials inflated the cost of moving the munitions by including $200,000 to fly the munitions by helicopter to a military facility. All that's needed is the Tech Unit pickup truck and a police escort
Kent Slowinski
Northwest Current
March 24, 2010 (pg. 10)