CWC: COORDINATION MEETING AND OPCW DESTRUCTION

S E C R E T THE HAGUE 000900 SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR, SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP> JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC COMMERCE FOR BIS (ROBERTS AND DENYER) NSC FOR FLY WINPAC FOR WALTER E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/27/2018 TAGS: PARM PREL CWC SUBJECT: CWC: COORDINATION MEETING AND OPCW DESTRUCTION INFORMALS Classified By: Ambassador Eric M. Javits for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) This is CWC-52-08 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) On October 13, the U.S. delegation participated in the Donor Coordination Meeting hosted by the Dutch MFA to review progress in international contributions to Russia's chemical weapons destruction program. Del also participated in the EC Chairperson's Destruction Informals meeting, at which the Technical Secretariat (TS) and States Parties (SP) provided a detailed update of destruction activities, conversion of former chemical weapons (CW) production facilities, and other declarations- related information. -------------- DONOR COORDINATION MEETING -------------- ¶2. (U) The meeting was held at the Dutch MFA and was chaired by Henk Cor van der Kwast, head of the MFA's Nonproliferation Department, and attended by the Netherlands, Russia, UK, U.S., Germany, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, and Italy. Russia, the UK, the U.S., and Germany provided program status briefings on CW destruction in Russia. ¶3. (U) Germany provided a quick recap of its previous efforts at Gorniy (Euro 50 million),Kambarka (Euro 150 million),and an update on their efforts at Pochep, the largest of the Russian CW storage sites (EUR 140 Million). The German delegation also gave a slide presentation on the status of construction activities at Pochep. German support focuses on provision of a turn-key thermal treatment building, contracted to Eisenmann and being assembled in Germany, although a Russian subcontractor will oversee construction of the building itself. Next steps include shipping of the equipment to Pochep and installation beginning this December. Target for startup is spring 2010. ¶4. (U) UK MOD rep James Harrison, speaking on behalf of the UK and smaller donors that contribute to UK assistance efforts, gave an overview of recent progress at Shchuchye. Harrison confirmed that with the installation of equipment in Building 1A, and completion of the railway between the storage and destruction facilities, Russia still planned to begin 
operations in late 2008. The completion of the electricity supply system, however, has been plagued by problems with unexpected (by FAI or the UK) changes in price and design from the Russian contractor. Harrison stated that all donor funds should be expended by the end of November 2008, and that a visit will be arranged in early 2009 for donors to the electricity project. In total, 80 million pounds have been contributed to the Shchuchye project. ¶5. For the U.S, Dr. Hopkins noted that almost all of the money pledged to the U.S. Shchuchye project had been committed ($1.1 billion) with $774 million spent in Russia. He said the trilateral approach to contracting had greatly improved progress in U.S. assistance at Shchuchye. ¶6. (U) Russian rep Elena Rodyushkina started the Russian update on a pleasant note, expressing appreciation to donors for improved patterns of timely and predictable assistance, noting in particular the significant improvement in U.S. assistance efforts since implementation of the new trilateral arrangement last year. True to form, however, she noted that only a small percentage of the expected 1.7 billion U.S. dollars had arrived during the critical construction phase, when it would have had the greatest impact. Rodyushkina also referred to a critical piece of equipment missing from the Metal Parts Furnace, despite Russia's having requested it, and all but directly blamed the UK for this omission. She went on to describe other delays for which Russian clearly held the UK responsible, and noted that lack of advance payment to contractors continues to cause delays. ¶7. (U) The tour de table also highlighted the following: -- Sweden stated that it would have funding for Green Cross in 2009. -- Finland noted that they contributed Euro 750k for the electrical supply at Shchuchye and are considering additional funding for Green Cross. -- The Czech Republic also noted its contribution to the electricity supply project. -- In response to the tone of the Russian intervention, the UK highlighted the difficulty of administering the multi-national assistance program from a distance, particularly when faced with a lack of reasonable bids for projects. Harrison also announced that the UK would host the CW Demil Conference 18 May 2009. -- Italy described continuing difficulties in its efforts to provide bilateral assistance to Russia, noting that it was unable to agree a work plan with Russia in time to take advantage of previously committed funding and was now looking for a new project. An agreement to provide assistance at Pochep had not yet been ratified by Parliament. -- Canada noted that the destruction process line and public address system at Shchuchye are now completed, and the railway is nearing completion; its 100 million Euro contribution should be complete by the next donors meeting. Its bilateral agreement for assistance at Kizner should be signed in October, and details for funding the two catalytic reactors were negotiated in September. Canada is also considering funding for a public outreach office at Kizner. -- The Netherlands reported on progress in electrical equipment installation. ¶8. (U) The next donors meeting will be held on 20 April 2009. Draft minutes from the March 2008 meeting were also circulated. -------------- DESTRUCTION INFORMALS -------------- ¶9. (U) Executive Council Chairperson Oksana Tomova (Slovakia) chaired Monday afternoon's session of the destruction informals, which was divided into two parts: presentations by the Technical Secretariat (TS) and presentations by the possessor states. ¶10. (S) Horst Reeps, Director of the Verification Division, introduced the TS presentations (hard copies forwarded separately to Washington) with an update on verification activities since the last EC. In addition to an overview of the number of QIn addition to an overview of the number of operational destruction facilities, current campaigns, and number of inspections conducted, he noted that India is having problems with the H-heel in bulk storage containers and continues to work to resolve the problem. ¶11. (SBU) At Maradykovsky, Reeps noted that the Thermal Destruction Unit is operational and draining and incineration of the reaction mass is on-going. At Leonidovka, catalyst and reagents are being introduced to aerial bombs and the Final Engineering Review at Shchuchye is planned for the second half of November. In Libya, the initial visit was conducted to the Ruwagha chemical reloading facility September 1-7, and on September 10 the TS held discussions in Tripoli on the facility agreement and verification plan for Ruwagha and the Rabta Toxic Chemical Disposal Facility. ¶12. (U) Reeps noted the TS was ready to conduct a challenge inspection or investigation of alleged use in relation to traditional agents under Article IX, but suggested that the TS should also be prepared to react to "substances of special interest," such as industrial chemicals and pesticides. He said the TS was preparing a list of such chemicals, and sought States Parties contributions. The samples for Designated Laboratory proficiency test 24 went out on October 10 to States Parties. Electronic declaration software for declaration of OCPFs and Aggregate National Data is now available for States Parties to test. ¶13. (S) Stephen Wade, Head of the Declarations Branch, noted that between June 23 and October 13 the following official documents relating to verification issues were received: Article III: 65; Article VI 162 with the total of 2195 pages. These included amendments to initial declarations (Russia),annual destruction reports (Russia, Korea (ASP),India), detailed facility information (Libya),facility agreement and verification plan (Libya),90 day reports, new discoveries of OACW (Italy, Japan, Canada),notification of CWPF changes (Korea (ASP)), and an Annual CWPF Report (India). ¶14. (S) Dominique Anelli, Head of the Chemical Demilitarization Branch, presented the status of demilitarization activities. On CW Production Facilities, Anelli highlighted the fact that Russia will soon issue a destruction certificate for the Dzerzhinsk Lewisite Facility. On destruction, he noted that the Republic of Korea completed destruction on July 10, 2008. Overall as of September 30, 2008, 29,557 MT (41.44%) of the 71,331 MT declared CW agents have been destroyed. The possessor States Parties had destroyed the following percentages of category 1 chemical agents by September 30, 2008: Albania 100%, Korea (A State Party) 100%, India 97%, USA 55.4%, Russia 29%, Libya 0%. ¶15. (U) Dr. Hopkins reported that the U.S. had been destroying CW for 12 years before Entry into Force of the Convention and had now destroyed 55.4% of its CW agents. He then outlined the status of destruction of agent and the construction of new CW Destruction Facility sites in the U.S. Hopkins noted that destruction has not gone as rapidly as desired due to a number of technical issues, Congressionally mandated introduction of new destruction technologies, and unanticipated problems such as Qtechnologies, and unanticipated problems such as mercury contamination in bulk stored mustard. He announced that the United States would host the next EC visit to Pueblo and Umatilla CWDFs in June 2009. As in the last session of the destruction informals, Iran again asked the U.S. to give start-up dates for operations at Pueblo and Blue Grass. Hopkins answered that due to the fact that the sites would use new technologies to destroy assembled chemical weapons, the U.S. would be in a better position to provide this information once construction and testing had reached a more advanced stage. ¶16. (U) Russia presented data similar to that of the Secretariat on its destruction operations at Maradykovsky, Leonidovka and Kambarka. It noted the successful EC visit to Shchuchye in September and that vertical construction was underway at Pochep and the site was being prepared for construction at Kizner. ¶17. (U) For Libya, Dr. Hesnawy presented an update on the conversion of the Rabta CW Production Facilities. He indicated that Libya was on target to meet its intended deadline of December 31, 2009. Buildings 1,2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28, 30, and 31 are now operational. Ten buildings are under conversion. Six simply require civil engineering work. Four buildings (14, 15, 17 and 25) require chemical engineering construction and installations and are approximately 60% complete. Of the 500 units involved, roughly 400 are in place. Hesnawy noted that the UK and U.S. had visited the site earlier in the year and that Italy would visit within a month. He further reported that the TS had made its initial visit to Ruwagha September 1-7 and that the Final Engineering Review would take place in December. The Libyan delegation also presented slides detailing the conversion progress, indicating that Libya had met the 80% conversion target of the end of October 2008 and that it fully expected to meet its deadline of December 31, 2009 for 100% conversion. ¶18. (S) Korea presented the history of its CW destruction efforts leading up to the completion of destruction on July 10, 2008. It indicated that the ROK still needed to be referred to as "A State Party" when discussing past or current possession of chemical weapons. ¶19. (U) Japan presented an update on its progress in conjunction with China on progress towards beginning destruction of Japanese Abandoned Chemical Weapons, focusing on trial excavations and mobile destruction facilities (MDFs). After reiterating the difficulties associated with excavation and recovery of old munitions, the Japanese delegation explained that it will be necessary to perform two trial excavations at Haerba-Ling. The first could be as early as this October, and the second some time in 2009. In relation to the MDFs, Japan noted that the framework for planning, construction, and contracting for the MDFs was agreed to by the Premier of China and the Japanese PM in April of 2001. The tender has been issued by Japan this October with a contract that is expected to be let by end of 2008. The MDFs are planned to be operational by 2010 near Nanjing. ¶20. (S) India: India noted that it was very close to completing destruction of its Category 1 CW, with 97% now destroyed, but that it was encountering some difficulties with containers with H heel. (DEL COMMENT: On the margins of EC-53, India indicated to Delreps that it had solved this problem by use of QDelreps that it had solved this problem by use of high pressure sparging with chloroethanol followed by thermal treatment of the containers. END COMMENT.) ¶21. (S) China congratulated Korea on its successful completion of its CW destruction and noted its contribution to stability in the Korean peninsula and the region. It also encouraged Japan to accelerate its progress towards destruction of its ACW on Chinese territory. It noted that there had been delays in the Haerba-ling excavations due to delays in the Japanese completion of related infrastructure. ¶22. (U) JAVITS SENDS. CULBERTSON