Sea Dumped Chemical Weapons Aspects Problems And Solutions

This volume summarises the materials presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Sea-Dumped Chemical Munitions, held in Kaliningrad (Moscow Region), Russia, in January 1995. The conference was sponsored by the NATO Division of Scientific and Environmental Affairs in the framework of its outreach programme to develop co-operation between NATO member countries and the Cooperation Partner countries in the area of disarmament technologies. The problem of the ecological threat posed by chemical weapons (CW) dumped in the seas after the Second World War deserves considerable international attention: the amount of these weapons, many of them having been captured from the German Army, is assessed at more than three times as much as the total chemical arsenals reported by the United States and Russia. They were disposed of in the shallow depths of North European seas - areas of active fishing - in close proximity to densely populated coastlines, with no consideration of the long-term consequences. The highly toxic material have time and again showed up, for instance when retrieved occasionally in the fishing nets, attracting local media coverage only. Nevertheless, this issue has not yet been given adequate and comprehensive scientific analysis, the sea-disposed munitions are not covered by either the Chemical Weapons Convention or other arms control treaties. In fact, the problem has been neglected for a long time on the international level. Only recently were official data made available by the countries which admitted conducting dumping operations.

Part I. The Cleanup of Chemical and Explosive Munitions Part II. Case Study: The American University Experiment Station (AUES): A Formerly Used Defense Site Appendices Bibliography.

Baltic Sea *Although leaked chemical warfare (CW) gases rapidly hydrolyse in sea water, potential risks of serious contamination will exist for many decades for sailors, fishermen and coastal visitors of the Baltic Sea, in particular concerning contact with lumps of mustard gas. *Since 72% of the CW agents is contained in aircraft bombs, which are already in various stages of corrosion and 63% of all CW agents is S-mustard gas, the loss by lumps of mustard, spread over the seabed in the neighbourhood of dump sites, represents the greatest danger. *There remain sites at risk outside the Allied Forces dump sites, since during the disposal procedures before 1948, ammunition was thrown overboard between the discharge ports of Wolfgast and Peenemunde and the dump sites east of Bornholm and south of Gotland. *Blue prints of emergency plans should be available in order to confine, bury or destroy ammunition at risk. Skagerak *Most dumped CW ammunition is contained in deliberately sunken vessels. *Implosion of the chemical weapon's cargo in these vessels, due to its own weight, may increase loss of CW agents, in particular from corroded aircraft bombs. *Several wrecked ships have been located outside the dump site as indicated on the nautical charts. *Steps should be taken to sarcophage the wrecked ships in order to avoid an eventual contamination of the eastern North Sea and coastal waters of Norway, Sweden and Denmark. General *Although the Helsinki Commission, through its ad hoc Working Group HELCOM CHEMU has correctly evaluated the present risks of the dumped CW ammunition, it is obvious that the authorities of the Baltic States and Norway should be prepared to act jointly in emergency situations.

Following the two world wars of the twentieth century, governments decided to dispose of unwanted chemical weapons in the world's oceans. The deleterious consequences of this decision for the earth's precious marine environment are now becoming clear. As the issue of sea-dumped chemical weapons cannot be contained by borders, we will all have to deal with the adverse effects on our fragile planetary ecosystem. While states have made some efforts to address the situation, unresolved international legal issues remain. International Law and Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons contains a systematic conceptual analysis of the international legal frameworks governing the remediation of sea-dumped chemical weapons. Where deficiencies are found in the law, legal solutions are offered. In addition, practical approaches to the problem are explored. Furthermore, the book argues that solutions to this environmental hazard rely on a holistic awareness-and acceptance-of how humanity's past actions have damaged our ecosystem. Aiming to bring about the necessary will to overcome this challenge, this volume identifies and analyses the problem, offers guidance, and provides hope to the current and succeeding generations so that we can solve the problem of sea-dumped chemical weapons and restore balance to our ecosystem.

This unique book focuses attention on the failure of current efforts to cleanup the Chesapeake Bay and suggests an approach often used in cleaning up environmentally damaged sites While military munitions sources contribute significantly to the pollution and degradation of Chesapeake Bay, they have been completely overlooked in many of the efforts to restore the Bay. Death of the Chesapeake explores this important aspect of the nation's environmental health. The book also recognizes for the first time that efforts to restore the Bay have failed because of the violation of a fundamental precept of environmental cleanup; that is, to sample the site and see what's there. The Bay itself has never been sampled. Thus, this book presents a view of the environmental condition of Chesapeake Bay that is totally unique. It covers a part of the history of the Bay that is not widely known, including how the Bay was formed. It presents a mixture of science, military history, and novel solutions to the Bay's degradation. In so doing, the author examines the military use of the Bay and reveals the extent that munitions dumpsites containing nitrogen and phosphorus as well as chemical warfare material are affecting the environment. The book concludes with the author's own cleanup plan, which, if implemented, would go a long way toward restoring health to the Bay. The book is supplemented with many photographs and maps.

Chemical Warfare Agents, Second Edition has been totally revised since the successful first edition and expanded to about three times the length, with many new chapters and much more in-depth consideration of all the topics. The chapters have been written by distinguished international experts in various aspects of chemical warfare agents and edited by an experienced team to produce a clear review of the field. The book now contains a wealth of material on the mechanisms of action of the major chemical warfare agents, including the nerve agent cyclosarin, formally considered to be of secondary importance, as well as ricin and abrin. Chemical Warfare Agents, Second Edition discusses the physico-chemical properties of chemical warfare agents, their dispersion and fate in the environment, their toxicology and management of their effects on humans, decontamination and protective equipment. New chapters cover the experience gained after the use of sarin to attack travellers on the Tokyo subway and how to deal with the outcome of the deployment of riot control agents such as CS gas. This book provides a comprehensive review of chemical warfare agents, assessing all available evidence regarding the medical, technical and legal aspects of their use. It is an invaluable reference work for physicians, public health planners, regulators and any other professionals involved in this field. Review of the First Edition: "What more appropriate time for a title of this scope than in the post 9/11 era? ...a timely, scholarly, and well-written volume which offers much information of immense current and...future benefit." —VETERINARY AND HUMAN TOXICOLOGY

This book describes the creation of a monitoring network, which can provide information about the exact locations and the environmental threats posed by chemical weapons (CW) dumpsites in the Baltic Sea region, using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs), and utilising the existing research vessels of NATO partner institutions as launching platforms. The dumping operations occurred shortly after World War II and included captured German munitions. Operations with munitions from the Soviet occupation zone were performed by the Soviet Navy, operations with munitions from British and American occupation zones were performed in areas outside of the Baltic Sea (Skagerrak Strait); the fate of munitions from the French occupation zone was never reported. Due to difficult legal status of these munitions, and high costs of remediation and retrieval, removal of these weapons from the bottom of the Baltic Sea seems unlikely in the foreseeable future. These dumped chemical weapons pose an actual environmental and security hazard in the Baltic Sea Region. Nowadays, with more and more industrial activities being performed in the Baltic Sea Area, the threat level is rising. The AUV survey is based on the IVER2 platform by OceanServer, equipped with Klein 3500 side-scan sonar. The identification phase utilises several ROVs, equipped with targeting sonars, acoustic cameras capable of penetrating turbid bottom waters up to 20m, and visual HD cameras. A novel sediment sampling system, based on a camera and sonar equipped cassette sampler, has been developed to obtain surface sediments. The test phase described consists of a survey phase, which will locate the actual objects concerned, and a monitoring phase, which will concentrate on the collection of environmental data close to the objects concerned.