Start to clean up dioxin at Da Nang airport

On the morning of August 9, the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam officially started the training and transport section of the project "Environmental treatment of dioxin pollution at Da Nang airport" . The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is a partner with the Ministry of Defense to implement the project with a total investment of up to $ 41 million. In which, the US side financed 34 million USD, the rest is reciprocal capital of the Government of Vietnam.

>>>IPTD technology to treat dioxin in Da Nang airport

Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony. (Photo: VD)

Along with Bien Hoa airport (Dong Nai) and Phu Cat (Binh Dinh), Da Nang airport is used as a storage, preparation and organization of herbicide sprayers in the war should become the hot spots for dioxin contamination. After many years, poisons have been spreading, affecting human health and the ecological environment.

"The project" Environmental remediation of dioxin at Da Nang airport "is implemented to show the determination of the two governments in overcoming the consequences of toxic chemicals after the war," Thuong General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of Defense, speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony.

US Ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. David B. Shear said the project was a milestone in bilateral cooperation between Vietnam and the United States."Both countries are moving the land and taking the first steps to bury the legacy of the past. I look forward to more successes that will continue in the near future," said David B. Shear. .

The project will handle about 73,000 cubic meters of dioxin contaminated soil and sediment at the Da Nang airport area. Dioxin contaminated soils and sediments are dug up and transported to centralized places for treatment by heat-absorbing technology in storage tanks and heated at a temperature of 335 degrees C. After passing 1.254 heat transfer wells, dioxin will decomposed into carbon dioxide, water and chloride.

Equipment for environmental treatment projects
at Danang airport. (Photo: USAID provided)

After being treated, soil and sediment will be removed from the tank, meeting Vietnamese and American standards for safety for people living and working in this area. Completing the project will create about 29ha of clean land. After this process, soil mud will be used as a leveling material in place at Danang airport and for industrial and commercial use.

The explanation of choosing this technology, Mr. Pham Dinh Chien (Ministry of Defense), said that the project is completely feasible because it completely resolves dioxin residues in the mud and the previous methods only work temporarily. time"The use of thermal desorption technology has a large budget but is necessary to completely clean up dioxin at the hot spot of this dioxin, avoiding bad impacts on people and livestock," Chien said.

Ms. Randa Chichakli, representative of CDM contractor Smith executing the project, said the unit has handled more than 1,800 large hazardous waste projects at 500 locations in the United States. When implementing the project at Da Nang airport, the transport and treatment of contaminated sediment will be carried out by safety measures so it does not cause harm to the surrounding community.

To serve the project, the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam has cleared unexploded ordnance in the airport area, and will build a separate station to provide electricity for the pollution treatment process.

The project will be divided into two phases and expected to be completed in 2016.