ĐÀ NẴNG — An American delegation of assistants to senators and congressmen, led by Terra Lynn Sabag, visited the completed Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination at Đà Nẵng International Airport Project during a trip to the central city yesterday.

The project, implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ministry of Defence of Việt Nam from 2012, has cleaned 90cu.m of contaminated soil and sediment through thermal treatment system and tested the treated soil and sediment with total investment of US$110 million. It also cleared more than 30ha of additional land for expansion project of the airport last year.

It uses an In-Pile Thermal Desorption (IPTD) system into which batches of contaminated soil and sediment are placed in a container and heated to 335oC, which destroys dioxins in soil

The soil is later removed from the container and tested for traces of contaminants before being put back.

An American delegation of assistants of senators and congressmen, led by Terra Lynn Sabag, paid a visit to the completed Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination at Đà Nẵng International Airport Project during a trip to the central city yesterday. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Major General and Deputy Head Commander of Air Defence-Air Force, Bùi Anh Chung, said the project featured close co-operation between Việt Nam and the US in dealing with a dioxin contaminated site.

He said it will be an example for the two countries to continue remediation at Biên Hòa Air Base later.

Sabag said the delegation’s visit aimed to strengthen US-Việt Nam ties in trade, economy and defence, as well as solving war consequence in Việt Nam.

The US delegation had a field visit at the site – where dioxin contaminated land has been completely cleaned with efforts by the US and Việt Nam in the past six years.

The delegation also visited Agent Orange (AO) victims and disabled children. Đà Nẵng is home to more than 5,000 AO victims, of which 1,400 are children.

Đà Nẵng’s former US air base is considered a dioxin hotspot. Other dioxin-polluted spots include Biên Hoà in the southwestern province of Đồng Nai and Phù Cát Airport in Bình Định Province.  

USAID also signed a grant with Việt Nam's Air Defence-Air Force Command for a total expected contribution of $183 million towards remediation activities in the Biên Hòa Air Base area over an initial five-year period.

Since 2000, the US has worked with Việt Nam to resolve humanitarian and wartime legacy issues. These include the removal of unexploded ordinance, the identification of remains of missing personnel and the remediation of dioxin. — VNS