PORT ARTHUR — Sixteen-thousand gallons of a former nerve gas agent have made their way to Port Arthur and the process of incineration has begun.

The first of many convoys from Indiana carrying the caustic wastewater arrived shortly after midnight Tuesday at Veolia Environmental Services, where the material will be incinerated as part of an international treaty to destroy chemical weapons.

Veolia recently signed a $49 million contract with the U.S. Army to destroy the VX wastewater at its Port Arthur facility, one of only three facilities in the nation with the necessary equipment to do so. Mitch Osborne, general manager of the Gulf Coast branch of Veolia, said destroying all of the former chemical agent could take up to two years but the company’s contract with the military goes through 2012.

According to Osborne, Veolia will continue to receive shipments of the caustic wastewater, but not on a regular schedule.

“Some weeks we won’t get any and some weeks we’ll get 12 shipments,” he said. “They’ve (Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana) generated less than half of the material and we’ll get it as they process it.”

Veolia subcontracted with Tri-State Motor Transit for the transportation of the VX wastewater.

Once arriving at Veolia, the former nerve agent is pumped out of tanker trucks under the supervision of representatives from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), monitors for an international treaty the United States and 181 other nations signed agreeing to destroy all chemical weapon stockpiles. Because inspectors from the OPCW cannot be at Veolia whenever the plant receives a shipment of the wastewater, cameras were installed in the unloading area for representatives to review. Osborne said Veolia was visited by several inspectors with the OPCW during the last three weeks who ensured the plant was prepared for the task of handling the wastewater, a procedure that includes coded valves, video recording of off-loading of the material and detailed documented records.

“Each valve is specifically coded with a seal and the representatives have to see that the seal that was put on in Indiana is the same one when they get here to verify it was not dumped somewhere along the way,” Osborne said. The seal of each valve will be recorded on video as it is broken from the truck.

Daniel Duncan, Environmental, Health and Safety Manager, Technical Solutions, North America for Veolia, said OPCW inspectors will report to Veolia once a month to check the videos and records of the plant’s handling of wastewater.

The caustic wastewater is then pumped into the plant’s tank farm where it is blended with other aqueous (water based) waste. To unload the entire contents of one tanker truck takes 45 minutes to an hour. A reagent is then added to the mixture to help employees manage the sodium in the material before it is sent through closed pipelines to the incinerator.

“We’ve handled a lot more hazardous material than this but we wear protective equipment with any hazardous material,” Osborne said of the white suits the Veolia employees wore who dealt directly with the wastewater.

Mike Richter, Director of Safety and Health Technical Solutions, North America for Veolia, who rode with the convoy from Indiana to Texas, said the company spent many hours preparing for safety procedures and is closely watched by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.