April 20, 2014 - Decontaminating the Danang Airport will bury the consequences of the past and pave a road toward a good future between the US and Vietnam, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Defense Nguyen Chi Vinh said Saturday.
Vinh was speaking as a team of US scientists began the process of using heat to remove the toxic defoliant, dioxin, from the contaminated soil of the former US airbase.
The US Agency for International Development (USAID) says that about 45,000 of the airport's 73,000 cubic meters (2.58 million cubic feet) of soil have been excavated for thermal treatment at 335 degrees Celsius (570 degrees Fahrenheit).
The US$84-million project, funded by USAID, is expected to finish in late 2016.
US Senator Patrick Leahy, who attended the ceremony at Da Nang Airport during his Vietnam visit from April 16-20, said the US has been working to eliminate the danger dioxin poses to the people of Danang.
“After so many years, the United States did not ignore this problem. We returned and we are taking care of it… our two countries can work together to address a problem that for more than three decades was an obstacle to better relations,” he said.
Leahy said the US government also has a goal of improving services for “people with disabilities, regardless of the cause, including which those may have been caused by Agent Orange. read more>>>
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