Concrete Cleans Agent Orange

The Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Miss., is using solidification/stabilization with cement to treat soil contaminated with Agent Orange, which was stored at the base from 1968 to 1977. Agent Orange is a dioxin-containing herbicide used as a defoliant during the Vietnam War. Approximately 850,000 gallons of the herbicide were stored on a 30-acre area of the base in 55-gallon drums. Spills and leaks of the herbicide migrated from the storage area and contaminated a network of drainage ditches and wetlands on and off the base. Solidification/stabilization (S/S) treatment involves mixing binding reagents like Portland cement into contaminated material. The remedial action at the naval base includes removing and transporting about 75,000 tons of contaminated soil, treating it with cement, and capping the treated material with roller-compacted concrete pavement for use as a parking lot for heavy equipment.

More on PCA’s waste treatment at www.cement.org.