Portsmouth ship nearly done neutralizing weapons

[unhappycamper]

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/08/portsmouth-ship-nearly-done-neutralizing-weapons



James Lance, waste handler for Parsons, monitors flow through a hose filling a tank that is part of the Field Deployable Hydrolysis System aboard the Cape Ray on June 16, 2014 during practice operations. The Cape Ray is tasked with the neutralization of specific chemical materials from Syria in accordance with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons guidelines while operating in international waters.

Portsmouth ship nearly done neutralizing weapons
By Corinne Reilly
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 14, 2014

Workers aboard a Portsmouth-based cargo ship have finished the job of neutralizing more than 500 metric tons of sarin gas precursor from Syria, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced today.

The Cape Ray, part of the U.S. Transportation Department’s Ready Reserve Force, was activated in December and fitted with specialized equipment for destroying the chemicals. It left Portsmouth early this year with a staff of 35 civilian mariners, most of them from Hampton Roads.

The chemical engineers who conducted the neutralization came aboard after the Syrian government handed over the last of the agreed-upon chemicals in June on a delayed time table.

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Engineers have now begun neutralizing roughly 20 metric tons of sulfur mustard, a blistering agent, the last of the chemicals on the ship, OPCW said.