UXO Site selected: Newport Chemical Activity, IN
General Area: Newport, IN

Site Type/Program: RCWM sites (Non-stockpile)

Location: The Newport Chemical Depot is an approximately 7,000 acre facility located in westcentral Indiana, in Vermillion County, near the town of Newport.

Brief History:

February 1942 The Newport Chemical Depot (NECD) was established and encompasses 7,104 acres. Its mission was to produce the explosive materiel RDX for munitions during WWII, along with heavy water.

1959 The Department of the Army (DA) selected this installation as the site for the production plant for persistent nerve agent VX.

1961 The plant started producing VX.

1963, 1968, and 1974 Records indicate active site status in an area known on installation maps as the Decontaminated Waste Burial Ground (DWBG), which is located south of the chemical plant in the southeast portion of the installation.



Range / Site Description: The Army's Project Manager for Non-Stockpile Chemcial Warfare Materiel 1996 report indicated that a site of unknown size was used as a holding basin area and burial grounds (pits). According to the report, all nerve agent (VX) was decontaminated prior to release to holding basins. The casings were either incinerated and sold as scrap metal or shipped to APG, MD for disposal. The site is considered a suspect burial site with a small quanity of CWM with no known explosives.

Associated Munitions: Possible CWA including VX. Only small quantities suspected.

Activities Completed:

January 1995 The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) requires the destruction or conversion of all chemical production facilities within 10 years of the treaty's entry-into-force. The former VX plant at NECD is one of the facilities that is planned for destruction. The Army has started its initial planning for the facility's destruction and is currently developing a project schedule. At this time, it is believed that the project will require 7 to 8 years to complete. Planning and implementation phases will be fully coordinated with State officials and the public.



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