Originally published on December 10, 2013
The international effort to destroy Syria's chemical weapons is expected to miss its December 31 deadline for the removal of the country's most dangerous chemical weapons, according to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
"In view of the circumstances in this country, it will be quite difficult to meet this timeline," said Ahmet Uzumcu on Tuesday, who represented the international chemical weapons watchdog to collect the 2013 Nobel Prize in Oslo.
The most lethal chemical weapons will be stored in about 150 shipping containers, which will be transported from Damascus to the port of Latakia by trucks. It may prove to be a tricky part of the operation as rebels have control of some areas along the roads connecting the capital to Latakia.
United Nations officials told the New York Times that all chemicals will be transferred to ships from other UN member states, which will depart for a foreign port. However, it yet has to be revealed which member states will participate in the operation. The port in question has not been disclosed either.
At the unidentified port, the MV Cape Ray, a 200-metre long cargo ship owned by the U.S. Maritime Administration, will sail into international waters to neutralise the chemical agents.
Equipped with two Field Deployable Hydrolysis Systems, the vessel will function like a floating chemical weapons disposal plant. The process is known as hydrolysis: water and other reagents, including sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite, will first be added to chemical agents; the mixture will then be heated up, breaking down toxic substances; about 7.7 million litres of effluents will be packed in 4,000 containers, which will be shipped to a commercial waste treatment facility.
The Syrian administration has amassed about 1,300 tons of chemical weapons over the years. The stockpile is comprised of sarin, VX nerve gas, mustard gas and other chemical agents. Under the agreement brokered by the U.S. and Russia, all weapons will be eliminated by mid-2014.
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