#13
US may adopt Russian method of destroying chemical weapons - Munitions Agency
ITAR-TASS

Moscow, 2 January: Russian methods of destroying chemical weapons may be used in the USA because they are the most environmentally safe and economic way of doing the job. An ITAR-TASS correspondent was informed of this today by the Russian Munitions Agency, which is responsible for implementing state policy towards the munitions industry, special chemicals and chemical disarmament.

Military experts say a two-stage method developed by the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology has been chosen for the disposal of Russia's 40,000 tonnes of toxic substances.

"The main principle of this technology is the irreversibility of the chemical transformation of the toxic substances, which rules out the possibility that they can be used again. This is done through the neutralization of the toxic substances, with the resulting reactive products being impregnated with bitumen," the Munitions Agency stressed.

The launching in December last year of Russia's first big technological complex for the destruction of chemical weapons at Gornyy settlement in Saratov Region has confirmed the high environmental reliability of domestic technology, which has completely proved itself.

The USA incinerates its toxic substances at temperatures of at least 2,000 degrees. Such technology is only justified if the chemical weapons are destroyed on sparsely populated islands surrounded by ocean. But on the territory of states where substantial quantities of these weapons are kept, it is not ecologically safe and provokes complaints from scientists and environmentalists. "Therefore, the Americans are now closely studying the Russian experience. It cannot be ruled out that the Russian methods may be used in the USA," the head of the Russian Munitions Agency, Zinoviy Pak, himself a chemist who is well known around the world, noted.

The technological complex at Gornyy will soon reach design capacity and by April this year Russia will be able to carry out the first stage of its international obligations - the destruction of the first 400 tonnes of chemical weapons, which are categorized as particularly dangerous. At the present time it is processing up to 1.5 tonnes of toxic substances every 24 hours.

Russia's stocks of chemical weapons will be completely destroyed by 2011, and a year later (in 2012) the entire ground on which the military arsenals now stand will be reclaimed for other uses and handed over to local administrations in an environmentally irreproachable condition.

Source: ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0831 gmt 2 Jan 03

BACK TO THE TOP    #238 CONTENTS    NEXT ARTICLE