Russia to open chemical weapons destruction plant – Jim Heintz- The Associated Press
The bland buildings in western Siberia contain shelf after shelf of nerve-gas shells – some 2 million in all. Each could kill tens of thousands of people, if exploded in a tightly packed area. Many are small enough to be spirited away in a briefcase…

In Siberia, the Death Knell of a Complex Holding a Deadly Stockpile – Clifford J. Levy – The New York Times
Soon after the Soviet Union’s collapse, an American inspection team arrived at a decrepit storage complex in Siberia. The front gate was guarded by a scrawny teenage soldier who had not been paid in months. Giant sheds seemed to hold little of value. Why else would their doors be secured only with rusty bicycle locks?…

Two Chemical Agent Leaks Found at Kentucky Depot – Global Security Newswire
Workers at the Blue Grass Army Depot yesterday discovered chemical agent leaks in two storage structures…

Ky. chemical weapons site reports 2 minor leaks – Jeffrey McMurray, Associated Press Writer – The Chicago Tribune
Two vapor leaks were found Tuesday in separate igloos where thousands of Cold War-era chemical weapons are stored in Kentucky, but Army officials said that they posed little danger outside the facility. The leaked materials were mustard gas and sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent…

Leaks detected at Blue Grass Army Depot – Lexington Herald-Leader at Kentucky.com
Two leaks of different chemical agents were detected Tuesday at Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond, but officials said neither poses risk or danger to people in the area…

CTR Program Eliminates 10 Ballistic Missiles – Global Security Newswire
Lugar on Friday plans to attend the formal opening of Russia’s Shchuchye chemical weapons disposal facility, which received significant financial assistance from the CTR program…

Regional meeting of Organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons opens in Sofia – News.bg
The Bulgarian minister of economy and energy Peter Dimitrov will open today the Eight regional meeting of the national bodies of the countries members in the East European group of the Organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons (OPCW), informed the press center of the ministry…

Weapons destruction in Alabama foreshadows work at depot – John Norton – The Pueblo Chieftain
One of the most dangerous steps in the destruction of Pueblo’s chemical weapons stockpile will be done by a trio of robotic systems using technology not unlike that found in automobile manufacturing plants. A contingent of state and local officials had a chance to see the first-of-its-kind array of robotic equipment…

Groups disagree about Gulf War illness research – Kelly Kennedy – Air Force Times
The Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs say an Institute of Medicine study shows there is no Gulf War “syndrome,” and that there is nothing unique about the symptoms 1 in 4 Desert Storm veterans suffer. But the congressionally mandated Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illness say that not only is there a series of symptoms that make up a definable illness, they know what caused that illness…

Army preparing for chemical disposal at Utah desert site – The Salt Lake Tribune
The U.S. Army is preparing to dispose of nerve agent and a blister agent at Deseret Chemical Depot…

Arkansas Backs Plan for Faster Mustard Agent Destruction – Global Security Newswire
The Arkansas Environmental Quality Department has approved a proposal for increasing the rate of disposal of mustard agent stored at the Pine Bluff Arsenal…

Activists question use of tear gas to stop riots – Joyce Wanja – Daily Nation
Tear gas, that favourite anti-riot device used by the police, is now under scrutiny over whether it should be classified as a chemical weapon. From riotous football fans to protesting mechanics and university students, the gas has become the club of choice for law enforcers, but a conference in Nairobi on Thursday questioned this adoption. “Its use is acceptable for law keeping purposes, but its effect should not contravene the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention,”…

Pentagon Looks to Destroy 90% of Chemical Stockpile by Treaty Deadline – Global Security Newswire
The U.S. Defense Department hopes to eliminate 90 percent of its stockpile of chemical weapons by 2012, the year designated by an international treaty for full disposal of the arsenal…

Arsenal OK’d to step up mustard gas destruction – Arkansas Online
State environmental regulators have cleared the chemical weapons disposal facility at the Pine Bluff Arsenal to accelerate its incineration of its mustard gas stockpile…

Army Adjusts Chemical Weapon Disposal Tracking Following Internal Criticism – Global Security Newswire
The U.S. Army recently took steps to improve monitoring of destruction of chemical warfare materials, Defense Environment Alert reported last week. The moves followed a 2008 finding by internal auditors that the service’s Chemical Materials Agency was not always correctly recording disposal of mustard blister agent stored in bulk containers…

Top level scrutiny for Marrangaroo Army Base – Lithgow Mercury
A high level international team will visit Lithgow today to monitor the progress on the decontamination program at the Marrangaroo Army Base. Since early this year a group of specialist contractors commissioned by the Defence Department has been working at Marrangaroo to identify and clear chemical warfare residue buried…

60 Percent Milestone Reached – The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency
The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) officials announced the destruction of 60 percent of the U.S. declared stockpile under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). This milestone was achieved Saturday, April 25…

While Pueblo waits, U.S. destroys 60% of chemical stockpile – Bea Karnes – KOAA.com
The U.S. has now destroyed 60% of our stockpile of chemical weapons, dating back to World War I. At the Pueblo Chemical Depot, construction in underway on a plant to destroy the stockpile held there…

Versar CEO Chairs Opening Sessions at the 12th Annual Chemical Weapons Demilitarization Conference – TradingMarkets.com
Versar, Inc. today announced that Dr. Ted Prociv, President and CEO of Versar, Inc. will chair the opening sessions of the 12th annual Chemical Weapons Demilitarization Conference (CWD 2009) to be held May 19, 2009 in Stratford-on-Avon, in the United Kingdom…

Reappointment to the Chemical Weapons Convention National Authority Advisory Committee – Wired-gov.net
Mike O’Brien, Minister of State for Energy & Climate Change, today confirmed the reappointment of Dr Tony Bastock as chairman of the CWC National Authority Advisory Committee, for a further four years…

N. K disappointment in fight against chemical weapons: world body – The Korea Herald
The top world body on the use of chemical weapons expressed disappointment Friday at North Korea, which remains one of only two Asian countries that refuse to join an International treaty banning such arms, according to Yonhap News. The Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) also appealed to Pyongyang…

Refusal to burn weapons looking smarter all the time – Kentucky.com
Consider where chemical weapons are being burned, then where they have been or will be neutralized through a more environmentally benign process…

Tamils call on Rudd to condemn Sri Lanka – News.com.au
Protesters at Sydney’s Martin Place said demonstrations would continue until peace was brought to the Tamil people. Tamil spokesman Adrian Francis said chemical weapons were being used against Tamils…

Chemical industry to work for more safety – Jonathan Lynn – Reuters
Chemicals producers and governments agreed on Friday to step up efforts to push for greater safety in chemicals from lead in paint to microscopic substances. But non-governmental organizations (NGOs) said unless the industry and governments come up with more money, agreed targets for cleaning up chemicals by 2020 were unlikely to be met…

Chemical Demilitarization in Kentucky to Continue Past 2017 – Global Security Newswire
The U.S. Defense Department yesterday said it would need until 2021 to finish off chemical weapons stored in Kentucky, despite the congressional mandate that operations be finished four years earlier…

Weapons at Depot now last to go – Kentucky.com
The Pentagon says a chemical weapons storage site in Kentucky will be the nation’s lone stockpile to miss a 2017 deadline imposed by Congress for destroying the deadly munitions. Although Blue Grass Army Depot in Richmond holds just 2 percent of the World War II-era rockets set to be eliminated under an international treaty…

Tooele depot’s safety record stellar – Amy Joi O’Donoghue – Deseret News
It wasn’t the mustard or nerve agent at the Deseret Chemical Depot that sickened the employees but the toxic potato salad served at a catered summer picnic to celebrate safety in the workplace…

Chemical waste to be treated here – Peter Strescino – The Pueblo Chieftain
Army representatives said Thursday that waste products from the destruction of chemical weapons will be biologically treated on-site at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. Money added to the defense budget allows for the process, said Jean Reed, Army deputy assistant for chemical demilitarization…

Utah gets closer to eliminating huge chemical-weapon stash – Judy Fahys – The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah continues to play its quiet — though enormous — role in world arms control, the Utah Solid and Hazardous Waste Board heard Thursday. Martin Gray, who oversees the Department of Environmental Quality group that keeps tabs on the facilities, said the United States and Russia account for 28,000 tons of chemical weapons…

Weapons destruction coming soon? Proposed budget would speed up chemical weapons destruction – Peter Marcus – the Denver Daily News
After decades of waiting, residents of Pueblo may finally be seeing the light at the end of the chemical depot. The Pentagon has proposed a budget that would accelerate the destruction of chemical weapons stored just 15 miles outside of Pueblo at the Pueblo Chemical Depot. Defense officials have called for $250 million more than anticipated this year, asking for $545 million to clean up mustard agent vapor at the site…

Pentagon backs onsite disposal at Pueblo Depot – Associated Press
Colorado Sen. Mark Udall says the Pentagon’s proposed budget calls for destroying chemical weapons stored near Pueblo on site rather than shipping them elsewhere…

Pueblo Chemical Weapons Disposal Waste to be Treated at Depot – Global Security Newswire
The U.S. Defense Department does not plan to transport waste produced through chemical neutralization of mustard blister agent stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado to another facility for treatment, U.S. Senator Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said yesterday…

Russia Could Miss Chemical Weapons Disposal Deadline, Lawmaker Says – Global Security Newswire
A Russian lawmaker said the nation might not be able to meet the April 2012 deadline to eliminate its stockpile of chemical weapons…

Egypt refusing to sign WMD treaties – The Jerusalem Post
Egypt is refusing to sign treaties prohibiting biological and chemical weapons, a week after it was reported that weapons-grade uranium was found in Egypt. The news, released in remarks by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Aboul-Gheit to the Egyptian weekly Ruz Al-Yousuf, could lend credence to speculation that Egypt is seeking weapons of mass destruction…

Mustard Gas Leak Found at Oregon Chemical Depot – Global Security Newswire
A minute amount of mustard blister agent vapor leaked from a container stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon…

Umatilla Chemical Depot Detects Trace of Mustard Chemical Agent – KVEWTV.com
A depot chemical operations monitoring crew detected trace amounts of mustard chemical agent vapor today inside a depot storage structure containing ton containers…

Madison County Tornado was an F3 – Kentucky.com
Madison County officials have counted about 150 buildings, mostly homes, that were damaged by the tornado. Officials didn’t count barns and silos. It also crossed the Bluegrass Chemical Activity, and skirted the northern edge of the Chemical Limited Area, where deadly nerve agent is stored…

Biological Weapons, Instead Of Nuclear Reactor, Keep Syria Within Axis Of Evil – David Bedein – The Bulletin
Syria has reportedly rebuilt the structure that housed the reactor bombed by Israel last year and has turned the site into a facility for manufacturing chemical and biological weapons. Official sources stated Syria had significantly expanded its biological and chemical weapons program by doing so…

Asian Training on Chemical Weapons Underway – The Korea Times
A five-day international training course on protection from chemical warfare opened here Monday, the Ministry of National Defense said…

Newly declassified data reveals insurgent use of white phosphorus – US Central Command
Today, CJTF-101 has declassified a report of 38 events in which insurgents have used or stockpiled white phosphorus munitions in the Regional Command-East area of operations. The declassification and release are in response to claims that insurgents do not use, nor have access to, white phosphorus…

U.S. Maintains Sanctions on Syria Despite Diplomatic Outreach – Global Security Newswire
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday said he plans to maintain existing economic and diplomatic sanctions against Syria, even as he attempts to reach out to the Middle Eastern nation…

U.S. denies using chemical in west Afghan battle – Peter Graff – Reuters
The U.S. military denied on Sunday it had used the incendiary chemical white phosphorus in a battle that killed civilians in west Afghanistan last week, after a rights group said it was investigating suspicious burns…

Funds would clear Pueblo cache – The Denver Post
The Department of Defense has allocated $550 million next year for disposal of obsolete chemical weapons at two U.S. facilities, enough to complete in-place disposal of the cache at the Pueblo Chemical Depot by the 2017 congressional deadline…

Defense Department Seeks $550M to Accelerate Chemical Weapons Disposal – Global Security Newswire
The U.S. Defense Department is seeking $550.4 million in fiscal 2010 to prepare sites in two states for chemical weapons disposal operations…

Army pushes for demil money – John Norton – The Pueblo Chieftain
The Pentagon’s budget request, due to be made public today, reportedly will ask for a major increase in funding for chemical demilitarization projects in Pueblo and Lexington, Ky., in order to meet a new deadline imposed by Congress…

Pentagon will miss chemical weapons deadline by 9 years – McClatchy
The Pentagon plans on ramping up by more than three years the destruction of chemical weapons at Blue Grass Army Depot, a move that includes an additional $1.2 billion in construction at two new disposal plants in Kentucky and Colorado, according to the Department of Defense…

U.S. speeds chemical weapons destruction – United Press International
The U.S. Defense Department is stepping up its program to destroy old chemical weapons, budget documents indicate…

Pentagon Boosts Funding for Chemical Weapons Disposal – Global Security Newswire
The United States plans to spend an extra $1.2 billion on two new facilities in an effort to accelerate the elimination of its chemical weapons arsenal…

Money Needed for Russian Chemical Weapons Disposal Site, Official Says – Global Security Newswire
The president of Udmurtia, an internal republic within Russia, said yesterday that additional funding is needed for construction of a chemical weapons disposal plant there…

Moving like molasses on chemical weapons cache – The Denver Post
For decades, Pueblo has waited for the Department of Defense to keep its promise and get rid of a huge cache of obsolete, leaky chemical weapons stored just 15 miles outside town. A recent leak of mustard agent vapor at the Pueblo Chemical Weapons depot…

Colorado Wants Better Monitoring of Army Mustard Agent Stockpile – Global Security Newswire
The state of Colorado wants strengthened monitoring of the U.S. Army’s stockpile of mustard agent weapons at the Pueblo Chemical Depot…

Bolstered efforts needed to combat chemical weapons – Secretary-General – UN News Service
Observing the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for greater efforts prevent the deadly weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists…

Chemical Weapons Must Not be Allowed to Spread, U.N. Chief Says – Global Security Newswire
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon yesterday called for the international community to redouble its efforts to prevent the proliferation of chemical weapons…

UN chief appeals for greater efforts against chemical weapons – China View
Observing the Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare, UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday appealed for greater efforts to prevent the deadly weapons from proliferation…

Depot holds nation’s last nerve agent stockpile – Ronica Shannon – Richmond Register
The Blue Grass Army Depot is now the home of America’s remaining stockpile of nerve agent (VX and GB) after the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) officials announced Tuesday the destruction of 60 percent of the nation’s declared stockpile under the Chemical Weapons Convention…

U.S. Reaches New Milestone in Chemical Weapons Disposal – Global Security Newswire
The United States has eliminated 60 percent of the stockpile of chemical warfare materials that it declared under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the U.S. Army announced yesterday…

Army destroys 60 percent of U.S. chemical weapons – Army New Service
U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency officials announced today the destruction of 60 percent of the U.S.-declared stockpile under the Chemical Weapons Convention…