Shimizu to Clean Up Dioxin-Tainted Soil in Vietnam

Hanoi, Sept. 4 (Jiji Press)--Shimizu Corp. <1803> said Tuesday that it will start an experiment in mid-January next year to clean up dioxin-tainted soil at Bien Hoa Airport in southern Vietnam, where U.S. forces stored defoliants during the Vietnam War. The major Japanese general contractor hopes to reuse the tainted soil after removing dioxin. The company signed a memorandum of understanding on the experiment with a research institute affiliated with Vietnam's Ministry of National Defense in Hanoi. The airport, used as a U.S. air base during the war, is considered to be one of the heaviest dioxin-contaminated areas in the Southeast Asian country. Shimizu plans to get rid of dioxin by combining incineration disposal and a technology that sifts and washes soil. The firm said that the cost of the combined method will be half of that of the incineration process alone. Shimizu will set up a cleanup facility within the airport to process around 1,000 tons of soil a day for three and a half months. The Vietnamese government will consider whether to adopt Shimizu's method, based on the results of the experiment. Over three million people in Vietnam are said to be victims of defoliants. END