[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS, GLOBAL: "How Pentagon plans to destroy Syria's stockpile at sea"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[The Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems (FDHS), described in this article, appears to be an appropriate technology for demilitarizing Syria's bulk chemical agent and stockpiled precursor chemicals. However, as far as I know it has never been used in the field, let alone on board a ship. There still needs to be an independent review of the safety and reliability of the proposed approach and the FDHS itself. Furthermore, other than keeping U.S. nationals out of Syria, I fail to see the advantage of moving the stockpile to a ship and destroying it at sea. The same technology can be deployed at multiple sites in Syria without transporting the stockpile, which poses both environmental and security risks. Furthermore, it's not clear how other Mediterranean countries will view the presence of a ship laden with chemical warfare materiel. Finally, the article fails to explain where the neutralization wastes will be disposed. This has been a major controversy for hydrolysate created at U.S. neutralization plants. - LS]

Chemical weapons: How Pentagon plans to destroy Syria's stockpile at sea

If the US offer to help destroy Syria's chemical weapons is accepted, a ship being retrofitted with portable decontamination units in Virginia will be sent to do the job. 'Nothing will be dumped at sea,' a Pentagon official said.

By Anna Mulrine
Christian Science Monitor
December 5, 2013 

Washington - The Pentagon has shed some more light on just how the international community plans to dispose of Syria’s most dangerous chemical weapons, which must be removed from the country by the end of December.

The current blueprint involves using newly designed portable decontamination units on a ship – currently docked in Norfolk, Va. – that is being specially retrofitted for the job.

...

Most of the components of Syria's mustard gas and sarin is in bulk liquid storage, rather than in artillery shells or munitions….

For the entire article, see
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2013/1205/Chemical-weapons-How-Pentagon-plans-to-destroy-Syria-s-stockpile-at-sea



--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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