Farewell to the poison
Head of the Federal Office for the Safe Storage and Destruction of Chemical weapons Colonel-General Valery Kapashin said that all five operating Russian chemical weapons destruction facilities, which last year fulfilled the state defense order ahead of time, resumed work. “At the end of last year,” he said, “the Federal Directorate ahead of schedule fulfilled the state defense order for the destruction of chemical weapons, after which the facilities were stopped and the necessary maintenance work was carried out on them. Since 14 January 2015, the process of chemical weapons destruction has been resumed. ”
According to the general, work on the destruction of toxic substances resumed at the Pochep facilities in the Bryansk region, Kizner in the Udmurt Republic, Maradykovsky in the Kirov region and Leonidovka in the Penza region. At the facility in Shchuchye of the Kurgan Region, the process of creating a workshop for the destruction of ammunition of complex construction is being completed. “Such ammunition was stored in Leonidovka, Maradykovsky and Shchuchye. At the first two objects, similar workshops were created and put into operation; in the near future, a workshop in Shchuchye will also be launched. Now the commissioning of the equipment of the processing line is coming to an end, ”Valery Kapashin explained.
By the end of 2014, 84,7% of all chemical weapons stockpiles were destroyed in Russia, and by the end of this year it is planned to increase this figure to 91,2%. In total, 36,5 thousand tons of toxic substances will be destroyed, the general summed up.
LITTLE STORIES
Recall the stockpiles of chemical warfare agents declared by our country of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at the beginning of the 90 of the last century and to be disposed of in accordance with the requirements of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Use and Destruction of Chemical Weapons, made up 40 thousand tons. They were stored in railway tanks, barrels, aerial bombs, poured tanks, warheads for tactical and operational-tactical missiles, and ammunition for jet and artillery artillery. Away from the main roads, in forests and steppe villages. There were seven warehouses with toxic substances (OS) of blistering and nerve-paralytic activity in the country.
They were located in the village of Gorny, Saratov region, where 1142 and mustard-lewisite mixtures were located, and in the city of Kambarka (Udmurtia), where 6360 and lewisite were stored (mustard and lewisite are skin-blister agents). And also in the village of Maradykovsky, Kirov region, where the reserves amounted to 6980 t nerve agents - sarin, soman and VX-gases. In the Penza region, not far from the village of Leonidovka, where one of the largest warehouses for the storage of chemical weapons was located (6880 t of nerve agents, 17% of all domestic stocks). In the vicinity of the city of Kizner (Udmurtia) with reserves of 5580 t of sarin, soman and VX, in the village of Shchuchye of the Kurgan region with reserves of 5440 t of similar combat poison, and in Pochep of the Bryansk region, where the 7520 t of the same nerve drugs were located.
Under obligations to the OPCW, Russia should have completed the destruction of its agents by April 29 on 2012. Failed. The main problem was that since the signing and ratification of the Convention (1996 and 1997 years), the state for this purpose simply did not physically have the necessary funds (more than 9 billion dollars were required). In addition, the task of disposing of chemical weapons was extremely difficult. It was necessary not only to get rid of poisonous substances, but to make sure that neither the ecology in the places of recycling, nor the people living nearby and working at the facilities for the destruction of organic substances suffered. The United States, which had reserves in 36 KT and never experienced a shortage of funds, also faced a similar situation. To date, their achievement in the destruction of their combat poison, according to expert on chemical disarmament, Professor Natalia Kalinina, is about 92 – 94%. But at the same time, if, in agreement with the OPCW, Russia is ready to finish the disposal of all its toxic substances by the 2020 year, then the USA is only for 2023.
FREE, BUT INTERESTED HELP
The main problem, as we have already mentioned, is the complexity and dangers of the remaining munitions with agents. The fact is that in them the toxic substances are placed together with explosives. And to separate one from another is an extremely dangerous and time-consuming technological task. Russian scientists and designers have already developed such a technology - it has been successfully implemented at facilities in Leonidovka of the Penza Region and in the village of Maradykovsky of the Kirov Region, where today 74% and 65% of such ammunition have been destroyed. It will also be used in the village of Shchuch'ye of the Kurgan Region, where 94 of such projectile equipped with VX and 39 ammunition filled with soman are stored. The technological line in Shchuchye, as General Kapashin said, will be launched in the first quarter of this year. And the Americans just started to develop such a technology.
Whether we share our work with them or not, the question is open. At one time, at the beginning of the 90 of the last century, when the question of the elimination of chemical weapons arose, the United States, under the pretext of providing financial assistance to Russia to solve this problem, asked our specialists to provide them with a check for detoxification technology of toxic substances. The one that the Russian scientists, designers and the military were going to use at their disposal facilities, and thanks to which the absolute majority of Russian OS were already disposed of. We told them our secrets. What the experts say is that the Pentagon helped greatly in reducing the cost of building their own facilities for the destruction of chemical agents — they did not have to undertake expensive experiments and developments.
True, the United States has not been stingy in allocating funds for Russia under the Nunn-Lugar program and the Global Partnership program to support the creation of chemical weapons disposal facilities. In particular, in Shchuchye. But, apparently, the American authorities would not be similar to themselves if they had done this without delay. The Congress, each time it was necessary to allocate some amount, for example, to carry out geological exploration or the construction of a railway line, furnished his consent with some concessions from Russian specialists. For example, he sought recognition by Russia of the presence of binary chemical munitions. Because of these delays, the facility at Shchuchye was built by one of the most recent. And mostly with Russian money.
Although in fairness it should be noted that foreign assistance in the creation of facilities for the disposal of organic substances from foreign countries was quite substantial. 16 countries donated money to our country for the destruction of chemical weapons. Of course, according to some experts, not because of compassion and willingness to help with all that is possible, but because they were afraid that this weapon would suddenly become used against them. It is better to pay off than to risk.
Among the countries that provided such free aid to Russia were Germany (its contribution was one of the largest), Switzerland, Canada, Italy, Great Britain, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ireland and Belgium. At 2012 the year when this assistance was terminated, its volume amounted to 32 billion rubles. - 10% of all expenses of Russia for the program of liquidation of toxic substances. Thanks to these funds, the country was able to allocate the same amount to the construction of housing and social facilities in the places of storage and disposal of hazardous agents, where, for example, in Kambarka, before that there was no city-wide water supply or sewerage. Now high-rise residential buildings, schools, clinics, stadiums, cinemas, roads, and bridges have been built.
The author of these lines had to visit more than once the places where chemical weapons were stored and where towns were built for people living in these places and workers of enterprises for the disposal of chemical agents. Impressions from year to year were striking. In the place of the villages forgotten by God and the native power, deprived of the usual benefits of civilization today, comfortable and comfortable towns with all the necessary infrastructure, which they did not know in these parts before, grew up.
TO USE PEOPLE
According to the official data of the Department for the Implementation of Conventional Commitments of the Ministry of Industry and Trade (it is he who is responsible for the disposal of chemical weapons in Russia), over the years 404 residential houses, 14 hospitals, 24 children's educational institutions, 3 sports complex, 3 baths, 3 building district departments of internal affairs (ROVD), 3 electrical substations, Water Sports Palace, 7 boiler, water intake facility, 11 solid waste landfill, fire station and much more. Laid a huge amount of engineering communications. Among them, 2 km of water supply networks, 201 km of heat supply networks, 30 km of gas supply networks, 516 km of power supply networks, 10,5 km of streets, 53 km of highways landscaped. For the money allocated for the social security of the recycling process, even a bridge in Penza over the Sura River, a length of 155 km, was erected. Someone may smile, but he is named after the Federal Directorate for the safe storage and destruction of chemical weapons. Long, unusual, but impressive.
The destruction of chemical weapons, which had been completely eliminated in Gorny and Kambarka, will be completed at the end of this year in Leonidovka, Maradykovsky, Pochep and Shchuchye, only one object in Kizner will remain in operation. This poses a problem for the Russian government - what to do next? With high-tech facilities built in designated regions? What to offer people working on them? How to prevent comfortable modern cities built near recycling companies from being destroyed? This is a new serious challenge to the authorities and thousands of people who have linked their lives with the process of eliminating one of the most formidable types of weapons of mass destruction.
According to the rules of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, all enterprises engaged in this work should be eliminated. But the Russian leadership managed to get permission from the OPCW to repurpose them. Or, in other words, convert. On the basis of the plant in Gorny, for example, an enterprise will be created to process detoxified iprit-lewisite mixtures into the production of high-purity arsenic-containing substances and semiconductors that are essential for micro- and nanoelectronics. In Maradykovsky - pulp and paper mill. In Leonidovka - production of piezoceramic materials for the defense industry. In Shchuchye - release of commodity lead. In Kambarka, a technopark for the disposal and disposal of hazardous industrial waste was erected ...
True, all these plans will require as much money as was spent on the creation of complexes for the disposal of chemical weapons. But there is no way back. As Professor Kalinina says, we have no hurry. “The main task is almost solved. Chemical warfare agents are effectively reduced to zero. Now it is necessary to calmly and consistently continue the whole complex of these works, preoccupied with preserving the highest degree of safety for the environment and the health of people employed in hazardous production, ”the expert emphasizes.
By the way, for all the nearly 20 years of work on the implementation of the program for the disposal of chemical weapons at Russian enterprises, where the weapons were destroyed, there was not a single serious emergency.
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