Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said he hopes that the disposal of solid rocket fuel at Pavlohrad Chemical Plant in Dnipropetrovsk region will be finished by the end of 2014.
At a meeting dedicated to the launch of an industrial facility for the disposal of solid rocket fuel in Pavlohrad on Tuesday, the head of state said that a year ago after his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, the United States had returned to working on the project of the disposal of solid rocket fuel.
"I hope that the $35 million planned for this program from the United States will be used to dispose of [rocket] engines, I hope we will complete all of the technological stages no later than 2013, and this means that by the end of 2014, or at most by 2015, we will dispose 100% of the solid rocket fuel that is stored at Pavlohrad Chemical Plant," the president said.
Yanukovych noted that there are about 5,000 tonnes of solid rocket fuel on the territory of the plant, which is an environmental threat to the region.
The president also said that he and the government have big plans regarding to the use of the substances obtained as a result of the disposal of solid rocket fuel
The president inspected the facility for the disposal of solid rocket fuel and studied the process for the fulfillment of the program for the disposal of SS-24 ballistic missiles
Plant Director Viktor Shyman told the Dzerkalo Tyzhnia.
Ukraine newspaper that the full-scale facility for the disposal of solid rocket fuel with a capacity of up to 2,000 tonnes per year will dispose of the solid rocket fuel from SS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles.
"If there is the required financing, this will allow us by the end of 2013 (and at most by the middle of 2014) to finish disposing of the solid rocket fuel. The first stage of the project is 100% ready, the third is almost 90% [ready], and the second stage – the crumbling, stabilization and disposal of solid waste products – is almost 30% ready,” the director said.
"Thus, if finances are allocated in 2011-2012, we will complete the construction of these facilities, simultaneously with the completion of the disposal stages, [fuel will] be disposed of, and this year it is planned to dispose of about 300 tonnes of it. And thus, we will complete the disposal of [fuel] that we have stored for over 27 years," Shyman said.
Shyman noted that after the meeting of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych with U.S. President Barack Obama at the nuclear summit in Washington in April 2010 agreement was reached that the U.S. would return to the project of the disposal of solid rocket fuel at Pavlohrad Chemical Plant.
In June, representatives of the U.S. Department of State and Foreign Ministry visited Ukraine, where they got acquainted with projects needed for the realization of the program for the disposal of solid rocket fuel.
Ukraine is obliged to dispose of solid rocket fuel from SS-24 ballistic missiles under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-1) and to carry out state programs on the destruction of SS-24 ballistic missiles and solid fuel from SS-24 ballistic missiles.
