U.S. Firms Win Contracts for AO Contamination in Vietnam Airport

Two U.S. firms have been given contracts by the American government to remediate dioxin residue in Vietnam’s Danang airport, one of sites contaminated with the Agent Orange/dioxin left in the Vietnam War. Through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Massachusetts-based CDM Smith received an $8.34-million contract for construction management and oversight of the entire project in coordination with Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defense. The U.S. Government recently awarded two contracts as part of the Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination at Danang Airport Project, which is being carried out in partnership with the Government of Vietnam. California-based Tetra Tech Inc. was given a USAID-funded $17-million contract for the excavation and construction components of the project. Contract services include construction of an in-pile thermal desorption (IPTD) treatment structure and the excavation, transport, and placement of dioxin-contaminated sediment and soil into the IPTD structure. The two contracts are parts of the Environmental Remediation of Dioxin Contamination at Danang Airport Project involves remediation of all contaminated soil and sediment at the airport, estimated at about 73,000 cubic meters. Scheduled to begin in August 2012 and complete by the end of 2016, the project is among ones funded by the U.S. government over the past years in an effort to mitigate AO-linked consequences which have lasted to third generation among Vietnamese victims. It is estimated to have around 4.8 million Vietnamese people vulnerable to AO/dioxin. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan – People’s Army July 4 p8, http://vietnam.usembassy.gov July 3)