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An image grab taken from Syrian television shows inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at work at an undisclosed location in Syria on October 10, 2013
THE HAGUE: The global chemical weapons watchdog is seeking commercial firms to destroy toxins from Syria’s poison gas arsenal, and trying to find a Mediterranean port where the chemicals can first be processed off-shore.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is racing to cobble together a ‘Plan B’ to eradicate the arsenal, after Albania backed out of an offer last week to host the destruction. OPCW is expected to ask companies formally today to bid for contracts to treat around 800 tonnes of industrial chemicals that are safe to destroy in commercial incinerators, a document shows.
Another 500 tonnes of chemicals, including actual nerve agents, are seen as too dangerous to import into a country or process commercially, and so would first be treated offshore on a US ship. That process would yield large volumes of toxic waste that must be disposed of. OPCW would need to find a port in the area where it can oversee the offshore work and then ship out the waste products.
The Hague-based OPCW, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last month, has been given the task of destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stocks under an agreement brokered by the US and Russia which averted US missile strikes.Reuters
