Η Αλβανία και τα χημικά όπλα

Ioannis Michaletos
14 Sep 2011



The following exclusive report by the Albanian investigative reporter and security analyst Gjergj Thanasi, presents the ongoing process for the destruction of the chemical weapons caches in Albania. During his research, Thanasi made an extensive use of the archive material that was found in the infamous Wikileaks telegrams of the US State Dept, as well as review of the Albanian press on that subject. The research was also presented in the leading Albanian newspaper Shekulli.




“Chemical weapons “ fallout" from wikileaks in Albania



Thanks to the Nunn-Luggar initiative, Albania got rid off her communist era stock of chemical weapons. 48 million dollars of US tax payers were spent to destroy approximately 160 bulk containers filled with 16,6 tons of chemical ammunition consisting of Blister gas(yperite),

Lewisite,Adamsite and Chloropicrin were stored in Qafmolla army facility some 10 miles from Tirana the Capital city of Albania. The process began in February 2005 and Albania was declared free of weapons of mass destruction by OPCW (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) in July 2007.


As the proverb say :All is well when ends well, the euphoria on the part of the Albanian Government as well as the American dignitaries served as a cover for grave problems lingering after the destruction of the chemical ammunition.


The recent released wikileaks revealed the lingering problems after the destruction of these chemical weapons. The wikileaks cable 08 Tirana 406 runs: Leaking containers of hazardous chemical waste left behind by the US contractors after a successful chemical agent elimination program had sparked MOD’s interest for help in building a hazardous waste storage facility.


There were 30 twenty-foot containers filled with chemical waste resulting from the destruction of the chemical weapons. The implementing agency DTRA(Defense Threat Reduction Agency) had agreed to pack the waste in double leek-proof containers which would hold the waste secure for 20 years at the Qafmolla army facility.


In Autumn 2007 tests revealed of heavy metal contamination of the concrete pad on which the facility was build. The Savant Environmental a UK remediation specialist determinate that the problem was worse than originally thought. The heavy metal salts put in steel drums had corroded the drums almost immediately. Many containers were leaking salts of heavy metal primary arsenic, lead and mercury. The conexes were not waterproof and since the contaminated components had not been properly cleaned before being put into the conexes , the condensation and water leakage were dissolving some of the contaminants and causing them to leak out into the ground.



The Savant specialists estimated that DTRA containers were only good for five years to ten years of containment not twenty as has been claimed. In case of natural disaster fire, earthquake etc this chemical waste risked to contaminate not only the premises of the facility but also the nearby villages and towns. ETTS (Eisenmann Thermal Treatment Systems) the German company from Stuttgart which carried out the project contrary to a prior written agreement with MOD of Albania left a a highly problematic legacy to Albania, thanks to a written consent of Mr.Fatmir Mediu to store the chemical waste in Albania instead of sending it abroad for further processing as in the case of the 30 tons of fuming nitric acid of dismantled SAM 2 missiles shipped to Sweden(see cable 06 Tirana 747).


Now there are 15 twenty-foot containers of chemical waste resulting from the destruction of the chemical weapons stored in Albania.(see cable 08 Tirana 556 signed by Ambassador Withers) A large quantity of cyanide compounds resulting from the destruction of the chemical waste was packed and shipped to UK by The Savant Environmental.




It is very strange how a project costing 48milion dollars created such problems to ill-equipped Albania. If we compare this project with the Swiss VETOXA(Vernichtung Toxischer Chemikalien in Albanien) carried out by the Swiss company MGC Plasma AG which destroyed 12 tons of chloropicrin and one ton training mixture containing a portion of 5% yperite at a cost of merely 5,3 million CHF.



The chemical weapons destroyed by Nunn-Luggar initiative were in bulk containers easier to deal with while the chemical weapons destroyed by the diligent and parsimonious Swiss were in the form of 15 000 pieces of tear gas grenades (chloropicrin grenades) and 23 000 CW stimulant containers with small quantities of CW agent.



After the destruction of the CW the Swiss left in Albania only 238 empty, perfectly clean chloropicrin barrels as well as the burnt out and harmless barrels of the training gas mixture. All other solid remnants from the destruction process, the slag from the plasma reactor and the filter cakes from the processing of the gas washing water, were declared as special waste material and transported to Switzerland for professional disposal.



The American project cost was more than eleven times higher than the Swiss one for the destruction of almost the same quantity of CW. The Swiss left no poisonous legacy on Albanian soil, while the American project due to the problematic implementation by the German company ETTS had higher costs and problematic chemical waste contaminating the environment.


In any case, it can be concluded that already the Albanians are used to Pentagon being rather slipshod with taxpayers money. A teen ager called Efraim Diveroli won contracts worth almost 300million dollars to supply the government of Afghanistan with AK-47 assault rifles ammunition and produced a scandal with rusty Chinese ammunition bought in Albania violating the US law. He is doing now time in a county jail in Florida, while 26 Albanians lost their lives in the Gerdeci catastrophic explosion in 2008, related to that supply of rusty Chinese ammunition by the MOD of Albania.