United States:  Umatilla Incinerator Test Burns to Begin

The U.S. Army is expected to begin a test burn today of a chemical weapons incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon (see GSN, July 15).

High-pressure levels at certain points of the incinerator had delayed the test, but officials approved a permit modification yesterday, according to the Associated Press.  The Army plans to use nontoxic solvents for the exercise, which is expected to last 45 days.  If the incinerator can be shown to destroy 99.9999 percent of the nontoxic chemicals, then Army officials have estimated they can begin destroying the 3,700 tons of chemical weapons agents at the depot by February, AP reported (Associated Press, July 30).

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Russia:  Gorny Weapon Destruction Plant to Open Aug. 12

Russia plans to open a plant for destroying chemical weapons Aug. 12 in the Gorny settlement of the Saratov region, Sergei Kiriyenko, state commission head for chemical disarmament, said last week (see GSN, March 22; RosBusinessConsulting Database, July 26).

The factory, which will utilize a two-stage process that involves processing chemical agents to make them safe and then disposing of them, will primarily destroy mustard gas, lewisite and their mixtures, according to Russian Economic News.  The factory is expected to destroy 1 percent of Russia’s chemical weapons stockpile by the end of next April (Russian Economic News, July 25).

All signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention, including Russia, are required to scrap their entire chemical weapons arsenals by 2007.  The convention allows for postponing the deadline by five years, and Kiriyenko said Russia plans to ask CWC members this fall for permission to extend its deadline to 2012.  Russia has the ability to destroy its chemical arsenals before 2012, he added.

The entire Russian chemical weapons destruction program, expected to last from 2001 to 2012, will cost $3.5 billion, Defense and Security reported (Yelena Yevstigneeva, Defense and Security, July 29).

The Gorny plant’s construction cost $160 million, and it is expected to require $704 million to destroy weapons over the first two years, said Zinovy Pak, director general of the Russian Ammunitions Agency.

Pak said that Gorny operations will help officials decide how to destroy chemical weapons at two other sites — in Shchuchye and Kambarka.  The Gorny factory might later be used for civilian purposes (Russian Economic News, July 25).

Meanwhile, Kiriyenko expressed hope that the United States would continue to provide financial assistance for building a chemical weapons destruction plant in Shchuchye (see GSN, July 19).  Without the U.S. money, Russia will have to build six less-powerful plants to destroy its arsenal, he said (Malaysian National News Agency Bernama, July 26).

For further information, see:

CWC Text

OPCW Main Page

CWC States Parties

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Libya:  British Minister to Lobby Libya for CWC Accession

British Foreign Ministry official Mike O’Brien is slated to visit Libya within the next two weeks to discuss terrorism and weapons of mass destruction with Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, the Financial Times reported this weekend (see GSN, May 8).  O’Brien is to be the first British minister to visit Libya in almost 20 years, according to the newspaper.

The officials are expected to discuss WMD issues, and O’Brien will probably urge Libya to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Financial Times reported (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2001).  He also plans to ask for Libya’s assistance to collect intelligence in the war on terrorism, particularly in the search for al-Qaeda operatives.  The officials will probably discuss Iraq, British Foreign Office sources said, but they added that Iraq is not the main focus of the meeting.

“The visit will be part of the campaign against international terrorism” and “will focus on Libya’s cooperation with the international community to resolve the outstanding issues between us, but it will not be a make-or-break mission,” a Foreign Office official said (Christopher Adams, Financial Times, July 27/28).

For further information, see:

CWC Text

OPCW Main Page

CWC States Parties

Pentagon Executive Summary of CWC

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