Chemical weapons destruction means

The Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibited the first use of chemicals for wartime use. Since 1928, an international treaty has banned the use of chemical weapons but not their development and production. A multilateral treaty, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), would require the destruction of chemical weapons and the means to produce them. The United States signed the convention in 1993 but has not ratified it as of July 1996. Earlier, the United States signed bilateral agreements with Russia aimed at destroying both countries chemical weapon stockpiles. 

Concern about the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and their means of delivery has reached exceptional levels. On November 14, 1994, the President of the United States found that ...the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons ( weapons of mass destruction ) and of the means of delivering such weapons, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. He declared a national emergency to deal with the threat. This executive order (12938) was extended on November 8, 1995 November 12, 1996 and again on November 12, 1997. 

General Finding (Pueblo) 1. Based on the results of the demonstration tests, the engineering design package, and available data, the committee believes that the Parsons/ Honeywell WHEAT technology package can provide an effective and safe means of destruction for the assembled chemical weapons stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. However, some of the process steps remain to be demonstrated. 

The general public underestimates the hazard of chemical weapons, to a great extent, due to insufficient knowledge of the action of this means of mass destruction. According to the terms and conditions of the Chemical Weapons Convention, states possessing stockpiles of chemical weapons must have them destroyed early in the 21 century. According to the experts estimations, these stockpiles (in terms of the mass of chemical warfare agent) include more than 30,000 tonnes in the USA and 40,000 tonnes in Russia. 

Do the above considerations mean that I consider the problem of sunken chemical weapons to be hopeless, and we may only have hope in fate No, they do not. Other non-dangerous and less expensive methods are available, which are capable of substantially decreasing the threat of Baltic Sea contamination. With this aim in view, we have to help the sea itself in destruction of foreign substances as soon as possible. 

METHODS AND MEANS FOR AIR MONITORING ASSOCIATED WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS... 

Destruction of chemical weapons means a process by which chemicals are converted in an essentially irreversible way to a form unsuitable for production of chemical weapons, and which in an irreversible manner renders munitions and other devices unusable as such. 

Convention means the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, adopted on 13 January 1993 , and includes any amendments to that Convention or the Annexes that are, or will become, binding on [State Party]. 

Convention means the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and On Their Destruction ... 

In recent years some research has been undertaken on the development of other non-intrusive techniques for determining the contents and status of munitions. These include neutron activation analysis, ultrasonics and acoustic resonance techniques. Whilst primarily aimed at the Russian and U.S stockpiles, these techniques may nevertheless also have application in the old chemical weapons field. One technique in particular has been fielded and successfully used by U.S. EOD teams on a number of occasions over the last two years. This device, which is based on the use of photon-induced neutron spectroscopy (PINS), makes it possible to identify the presence or absence of the elements phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, fluorine and arsenic within the munition. Clearly this information not only helps to identify the presence of a chemical fill, but in many circumstances also means it is possible to identify the fill. The development of more and improved techniques of non-destructive analysis will be a major factor in the development of safer techniques for the recovery and disposal of these old munitions. 

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