Stockpiles, of chemical weapons

Iran Has a stockpile of chemical weapons. Previously known to have produced and stockpiled blister, blood and choking agents, and probably nerve agents. Seeking aid from Chinese and Russian entities to develop more advanced self-sufficient infrastructure. Delivery systems include artillery shells, mortars, rockets and aerial bombs. Used chemical weapons during Iran-Iraq War. 

North Korea Believed to possess sizeable stockpile of chemical weapons including nerve, blister, choking and blood agents. Delivery methods could include missiles, artillery and aerial bombs. 

Russia inherited the world s largest declared stockpile of chemical weapons, over 40,000 metric tons, from the Soviet Union. The Russian government has identified chemical weapons destruction as one of its two priority areas of concern for the G-8 Global Partnership accord against the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Although issues of economics have often dominated what has been said and written about the disposal programme, lack of local community support is also cited as a major political obstacle. Many of the same concerns detailed extensively by US citizens are also asserted by Russian citizens. Foremost is concern about the detrimental effects of chemical weapons destruction on public health and the environment . ... 

Jozef Goldblat, Stockpiles of Chemical Weapons and Their Destruction , SIPRI Yearbook 1979 (New York Crane, Russak Co., 1979), pp. 470-489. 

General Atomics is part of a team contracted by the United States Army to design, build, and operate a facility to destroy the stockpile of chemical weapons located in Richmond, Kentucky. p, jpg proposed process, all chemical agent and explosive materials will first be hydrolyzed in hot caustic or water, with the resulting hydrolysate then destroyed by SCWO. The SCWO portion will be based on General Atomics design. 

The total world declared stockpile of chemical weapons was about 59,000 tons in early 2006. As of March 31, 2006 the U.S. has destroyed 10,103 metric tons of chemical agents since entry-into-force of the CWC, or 36.4% of its declared inventory of 27,768 metric tons, far more than aU other declared CW possessors combined (U S. Department of State, Fact Sheet, 2006). The U.S. chemical demilitarization program is projected to be completed in 2012, but it may take as long as 2020. Japan is obligated to destroy aU abandoned CW agents in China by 2007, but has asked for an extension to 2012. (Guangdong News, 2006). 

There is no accurate accounting of the world s stockpile of chemical weapons. Only the United States, Iraq, and Russia have made stockpile declarations. The United States has approximately 31,000 agent tons of chemical weapons stored in nine locations. Destruction of the weapons began in July 1990 at Johnston Atoll in the Pacific. Under current U.S. plans, destruction facilities will eventually operate at all the storage locations. 

The fiscal year 1993 Defense Authorization Act (P.L. 102-484) required that the Department of Defense destroy the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons and agents by December 31, 2004. Previous legislation had established earlier deadlines. In January 1993, the United States signed the United Nations-sponsored Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that is intended to prohibit the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons. 

Chemical Sureties/Weapons As with conventional ordnance, burial of chemical weapons was an accepted disposal practice. The lack of accurate disposal records and the acute threat represent significant challenges to the restoration of lands that may contain buried chemical agents. Leaking stockpiles of chemical weapons also represent a threat to human health... 

Before and during World War II, the Axis and the Allied powers had established large stockpiles of chemical weapons. Nevertheless, no major use of chemical weapons as a weapon of warfare occurred during World War II. However, many of the victims of the Holocaust were murdered using poisonous gases. 

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. 

Lundin, J. (1979) Stockpiles of chemical weapons and their destruction. SIPRl Yearbook of World Armaments and Disarmament, 470-489. 

Draft Convention on the prohibition of the development, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons and on their destruction, dated 28 March, by Bulgaria, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, the Ukranian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , document CCD/361 (1972), Cmnd. 5344 (1972-3) vii, pp. 135-9. 

Draft Convention by Japan on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction , document CCD/420 (1974), Cmnd. 6512 (1975-6) x, pp. 163-9 United Nations Disarmament Yearbook, vol. 1, p. 175. 

Under the original US Department of Defense Authorization Act of 1986 and its amendments, the United States must destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons by 2004. Following the US Senate ratification of the CWC (1997), and despite some technical challenges, this destruction should take place within the international schedule. 

Destruction of chemical warfare agents is another application for Na/NHa detoxifrcatioa Cost effective methods, other than combustion, are needed to dispose of aging stockpiles of chemical weapons. In extensive testing, the chemical agents GA, GB, GD, GF, Lewisite, VX, HD, HT, HN-1, HN-2, HL, picric acid, CG and CK have been destroyed with efficiencies greater that 99.9999% by Commodore. The reaction products have been characterized. The product mixtures were found to be CLASS 1 or CLASS 0 level materials when tested for acute toxicity. Scheme 4 illustrates the destruction of VX by rapid electron transfer to VX followed by 70% P-S and 30% C-S cleavage with evolution of ethane. 

The Third Review Conference reaffirmed that the full, effective, and non-discriminatory implementation of all Articles of the Convention makes a major contribution to international peace and security, through the elimination of existing stockpiles of chemical weapons and prohibition of their acquisition and use, and provides for assistance and protection in the event of use, or threat of use, of chemical weapons and for international cooperation for peaceful purposes in the field of chemical activities. 

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