US, VN celebrate dioxin remediation at Đà Nẵng Airport, commit to continue at Biên Hòa Airbase

ĐÀ NẴNG — Joint Việt Nam-US teams working to remediate dioxin at the Đà Nẵng International Airport have successfully completed their work, according to the US Embassy in Việt Nam.

The Unites States’ Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas A. Shannon Jr. joined Vietnamese Senior Lieutenant General Nguyễn Phương Nam, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Army of Việt Nam, to mark the completion at a ceremony held on Thursday at the Đà Nẵng Airport. 

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Việt Nam Ministry of National Defense first launched the project in 2012, which involved the treatment of more than 90,000 cubic metres of contaminated materials including soil and mud, while isolating more than 60,000 cu.m of other material at lower risk.

US Under Secretary Shannon stated that the Đà Nẵng Airport project stood as a symbol of the growing US-Việt Nam partnership and demonstrated how both countries could turn past issues of contention into new areas of co-operation. 

The US Under Secretary also highlighted that the Đà Nẵng Airport remediation project had enabled the city of Đà Nẵng to build an airport extension that will bring new prosperity and growth to the Vietnamese people.

In anticipation of President Donald J. Trump’s visit to Việt Nam, Shannon announced that the United States was committed to contribute to joint US-Việt Nam dioxin remediation efforts at the Biên Hòa Airbase in the southern province of Đồng Nai. 

A 2016 US-Việt Nam joint environmental assessment found that the volume of dioxin contamination at the airbase made it the largest dioxin hot spot in the country.  — VNS