[CPEO-MEF] CHEMWEAPONS: "Destroying Syria's chemical weapons won't be easy"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

[This column builds upon the message I sent on September 11, 2013. - LS]


Destroying Syria's chemical weapons won't be easy, but it's possible
New technology could be used to destroy Syria's weapons safely and on- 
site


Opinion by Lenny Siegel
Baltimore Sun
September 25, 2013

Globally, chemical weapons demilitarization has been difficult, slow  
and costly, but with technologies that have been developed over the  
past two decades, the safe destruction of Syria's chemical weapons  
stockpile is feasible. While the diplomats work out the principles  
for sequestering and eliminating Syrian chemical warfare materiel,  
our government and others should be developing a strategy for safe,  
secure demilitarization. That work must begin now, not only because  
it will take time, but also because it is likely to raise issues that  
the diplomats will need to resolve.

In the eras before and after World War II, major powers disposed of  
their chemical weapons by burying them and dumping them in the ocean.  
Those may have been the best strategies for the time, but they have  
proven impermanent. In the U.S., "disposed" chemical rounds have been  
found in Delaware driveways built with clam shells dredged off the  
coast of New Jersey, and the Army is considering the excavation of  
trenches at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama containing an estimated  
90,000 intact chemical munitions and over 800,000 other chemical- 
agent contaminated items. Today, in recognition of the potential use  
of chemical agents by non-state actors as well as the environmental  
health risks of chemical releases, more sophisticated approaches are  
required.

The U.S. has disposed of roughly 90 percent of its chemical weapons  
stockpile using both large incinerator complexes and a mix of  
neutralization technologies. Perhaps more important for the  
anticipated Syrian chemical demilitarization campaign, the U.S.,  
Japan and Europe have developed transportable systems for safely  
disposing of intact chemical munitions as well as other chemical  
warfare materiel. Four such technologies were evaluated recently in  
the 2012 National Academies report, Remediation of Buried Chemical  
Warfare Materiel.

...

For the entire column, see
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-chemical- 
weapons-20130925,0,6675575.story

A permanent version may be found on CPEO's web site at
http://www.cpeo.org/pubs/SyrianChemDemil.pdf


--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., 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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