Global Security Newswire

Russia has begun to operate a U.S.-backed chemical weapons disposal facility near the Ural Mountains, the environmental organization Global Green USA announced yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2008).

The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction provided roughly half the funding for construction of the Shchuchye plant in the Kurgan Oblast. The site stores about 5,400 metric tons of various nerve agents contained within nearly 2 million artillery shells and 1,000 missile warheads.

Operations and system testing using nerve agent began yesterday at one primary destruction building, while the other plant is not expected to open for at least one year, according to Global Green. When fully operational, the site should be able to eliminate 1,600 tons of nerve agent each year.

“The initial opening of the Shchuchye facility in Russia to eliminate some 5,400 tons of deadly nerve agents is a major milestone in Russia’s program to safely destroy its 40,000 tons of chemical weapons," Paul Walker, security and sustainability chief at Global Green, said in a press release. "It will be extremely important that the U.S. remain involved in oversight and technical support for this major threat reduction and nonproliferation effort in order to make sure it moves forward safely, securely, and efficiently. We have to be 100 percent certain that no accidents or incidents happen to derail this expensive and dangerous process, and we do not want these man-portable weapons to wind up in the wrong hands.”

A total of seven chemical weapons disposal plants are anticipated in Russia. One has finished operations, while three others are conducting disposal and two remain unfinished.

The Bush administration provided no money for Russian chemical demilitarization activities in its fiscal 2008 and 2009 defense budgets, Global Green said. The group called for the Obama administration to provide funding for support operations at Shchuchye and to back disposal of more than 2 million nerve agent artillery shells stored at Kizner in the Udmurt Republic.

Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia has until April 2012 to complete elimination of its stockpile of banned materials (see GSN; Global Green USA release, March 5).