Destruction of chemical weapons in the United States information
See also: Chemical weapon proliferation
Attempts to destroy chemical weapons
Throughout history, chemical weapons have been used as strategic weaponry to devastate the enemy in times of war. After the mass destruction created by WWI and WWII, chemical weapons have been considered to be inhumane by most nations, and governments and organizations have undertaken to locate and destroy existing chemical weapons. However, not all nations have been willing to cooperate with disclosing or demilitarizing their inventory of chemical weapons. Since the start of the worldwide efforts to destroy all existing chemical weapons, some nations and terrorist organizations have used and threatened the use of chemical weapons to leverage their position. Examples of the use of chemical weapons since World War II are Iraq’s Saddam Hussein on the Kurdish village Halabja in 1988 and their employment against civilian passengers of the Tokyo subway by Aum Shinrikyo in 1995. The efforts made by the United States and other chemical weapon destruction agencies intend to prevent such use, but this is a difficult and ongoing effort. Aside from the difficulties of cooperation and locating chemical weapons, the methods to destroy the weapons and to do this safely are also a challenge.
The United States has been at the forefront of the chemical weapons reduction efforts since the late 1960s, when President Richard Nixon imposed a moratorium on the production of chemical weapons in the U.S. In 1979, the first pilot program for chemical weapons destruction was established; the preferred disposal technology commonly used today originated from this program.[1] The first major program to destroy chemical weapons stockpiles in the United States began in 1990, two years before the drafting of an international agreement that called for a halt in production as well as the destruction of existing chemical weapons.[2] The first destruction site was located at Johnston Atoll, just over 600 miles (970 km) southwest of Hawaii. Since then two sites have been set up under management of the Department of Defense and six locations managed by the Army, all located within the United States.[2] While there is an almost universal agreement that the elimination of chemical weapons is in the best interest of all mankind, there are many concerns surrounding the destruction operations. Safety of personnel and surrounding communities is a main concern, and this has been addressed in several ways. The pollution produced by the preferred destruction method involving the incineration of the chemical agents and the munitions that contained them was another concern.[1] The program has been incredibly expensive; in the 2011 budget proposal submitted to Congress in February 2010 just over half a billion dollars was allocated for two of the destruction sites.[1] This amount of money would create many benefits for the surrounding communities in the form of both jobs and equipment provided to local cities and counties.
[3][2]
^ abc"Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste Fact Sheet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-06-17. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
^ abc"US gains momentum destroying chemical weapon stockpiles".
^Walker, Paul (13 September 2013). "How to Destroy Chemical Weapons". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2013.
and 29 Related for: Destruction of chemical weapons in the United States information
Throughout history, chemicalweapons have been used as strategic weaponry to devastate the enemy in times of war. After the mass destruction created by WWI...
TheUnitedStates is known to have possessed three types ofweaponsof mass destruction: nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The U.S. is the only...
Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, is an arms control treaty administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition ofChemicalWeapons (OPCW), an...
TheUnited Kingdom possesses, or has possessed, a variety ofweaponsof mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, and chemicalweapons. The United...
Convention (CWC), which required thedestructionof all chemicalweapons by 2012. Twelve nations have declared chemicalweapons production facilities and six...
The Russian Federation is known to possess or have possessed three types ofweaponsof mass destruction: nuclear weapons, biological weapons, and chemical...
creating deadly agents, chemicalweapons and other kinds ofweaponsof mass destruction. Several Dutch companies provided theUnitedStates, Israel and Pakistan...
to internationally proscribed weapons. This included weaponsof mass destruction (nuclear, chemical and biological weapons) and long-range ballistic missiles...
employed weaponsof mass destruction (WMD) from 1962 to 1991, when it destroyed its chemicalweapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs...
up CBRN, the military acronym for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (warfare or weapons), all of which are considered "weaponsof mass destruction"...
themselves." Chemicalweapons are classified as weaponsof mass destruction (WMD), though they are distinct from nuclear weapons, biological weapons, and radiological...
Germany has the technical capability to produce weaponsof mass destruction (WMD), since World War II it has refrained from producing those weapons. However...
may regulate weapons use under the customs of war (Hague Conventions, Geneva Protocol), ban specific types ofweapons (ChemicalWeapons Convention, Biological...
possess weaponsof mass destruction, although it has participated in extensive research into nuclear, biological and chemicalweaponsinthe past. Australia...
A weaponof mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people...
ChemicalWeapons Convention, which prohibits the use ofchemicalweapons and requires their destruction. Verification consists both of evaluation of declarations...
has developed weaponsof mass destruction, most notably chemicalweapons. Chemicalweapons production was concentrated in Smyadovo. As of 2016, Bulgaria...
The Pueblo Chemical Depot is a chemicalweapons storage site located in Pueblo County, Colorado, UnitedStates. The Pueblo Chemical Depot was one of the...
The use of toxic chemicals as weapons dates back thousands of years, but the first large-scale use ofchemicalweapons was during World War I. They were...
currently having chemicalweapons, ratified theChemicalWeapons Convention (CWC) in 1995, and acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984. France...
believed to possess weaponsof mass destruction, and to be one of four nuclear-armed countries not recognized as a Nuclear Weapons State by the Non-Proliferation...
atomic weapons. Prior to 1946 Japan carried out many attacks using weaponsof mass destruction (chemical and biological), principally in China. In 1995...
Summit, the Polish-Russian agreement inthe sphere ofchemicalweaponsdestruction was reached. Thechemicalweapons agreement will assist Russia in disposing...
Syria and weaponsof mass destruction deals with the research, manufacture, stockpiling and alleged use by Syria ofweaponsof mass destruction, which include...
The following countries have either attempted to develop, actually built, or bought weaponsof mass destruction, including biological, chemical, and nuclear...
Global Information