Last poison gas ammunition destroyed in Leonidovka
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Penza, 17 August 2015. PenzaNews. Last ammunition with poison gas has been sent for destruction in Leonidovka, the Penza region on Sunday, August 16, announced Colonel-General Valery Kapashin, head of the federal department for safe storage and destruction of chemical weapons.
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According to him, the reaction mass processing and roasting of metal buildings will last for another month.
“The full completion of the chemical weapons stockpiles destruction in Leonidovka is scheduled for September 22. On this occasion, a ceremony will be held,” Colonel-General said.
Valery Kapashin noted that Leonidovka is the third Russian chemical weapons destruction facility to cope with the task — prior to it, in 2005 and 2009 respectively, the stockpiles of Gorny in the Saratov region and Kambarka in Udmurtia were destroyed.
“By the end of this year, the chemical weapons will be completely destroyed by another three Russian facilities — Pochepe in the Bryansk region, Maradykovsky in the Kirov region, and Shchuchie in the Kurgan region. In 2016, Russia will have only one facility left which will continue the destruction of toxic substances — Kizner in Udmurtia. It will be operating for several more years,” he said.
At the moment, Russia has destroyed about 91% of the available stocks of chemical weapons.
At the sites, which should be taken out of service for their intended purpose, it is necessary to degas the equipment, sanitize and re-cultivate the land. It is expected that the work will begin in 2016, reports Interfax.