A senior Russian official said yesterday the nation has destroyed nearly 42 percent of its full depository of chemical warfare materials, Interfax reported (see GSN, Aug. 10).
A total of 16,705 metric tons of chemical agents have been destroyed to date, Sergei Serbin, head of the international cooperation office for Russia's chemical weapons storage and disposal department, said during a conference near the disposal plant at Shchuchye in the Kurgan region. Russia at one point held 40,000 metric tons of material, the world's largest stockpile of substances banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
"The disposal is proceeding as planned," Serbin said during the event. "The yearly target for Russia has been accomplished by 77 percent. As for the Shchuchye facility, it has destroyed 86 percent of the yearly target."
Nearly 776 of the 5,450 metric tons of sarin nerve agent stored at Shchuchye have been destroyed.
Difficulties were anticipated as the plant began operations last May, Serbin said (see GSN, May 29). "Naturally there were some, but nothing extraordinary happened, and the equipment is being adjusted. The facility is stable now, and there is even some power reserve," he said.
Six chemical weapons disposal plants have opened so far in Russia. The nation intends to dispose of 45 percent of its chemical arsenal by the end of this year and to have disposed of all chemical weapons by April 29, 2012, the deadline set by the convention (Interfax I, Oct. 14)
The second part of the Shchuchye disposal plant is likely to come online in the latter half of 2010, Serbin said. With the addition of the new section, the facility would be able to destroy 1,700 metric tons of material each year, he added.
"Construction efforts are in progress and equipment is being installed. the facility will have two segments with a similar capacity," he said (Interfax II, Oct. 14).