Plant for destroying chemical weapons ready for operation

The state commission for acceptance of a plant for destroying chemical weapons at the Gorny settlement in the Saratov Region (the Volga federal district) started working on Tuesday.

As the Regional Ministry of Information and the Press reported, during the next two weeks the commission will check all the production and control systems of the plant and take a decision on putting the plant into operation which is scheduled for December 15th.

Fulfilment by the Russian side of the international Convention on the Prohibition of Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and Their Destruction, ratified by our country in November 1997, depends on whether the plant is put into operation.

At the first plenary meeting of the commission held on Monday it was noted that there are no grounds for postponement of the putting of the plant into operation. Experts will have a chance to make sure of this in the course of the commission's work. The test trials of the lewisite line which have being going on already for a few months have shown that it can work in the planned regime. For this reason, the main questions concern the system of environmental monitoring and ensurance of security. The military and civilian specialists are sure that it has also withstood testing and is fully ready for putting the plant into operation.

During the Monday meeting the members of the commission could make sure that the environmental monitoring system is unique. Information is obtained from different chemical-analytical laboratories and assay-selecting posts. Furthermore, an integral system within the bounds of the whole production facility, as well as a system of control over the environmental situation in the zone of protection measures have been developed. All this give grounds to hope that no emergencies will occur.

At the meeting of the commission governor of the Saratov Region Dmitry Ayatskov asked the secret services to join the work to ensure security of the plant itself.