Syrian Chemicals Head To U.S.

Five industrial chemicals that were part of Syria’s weapons program are bound for Port Arthur, Texas, where they will be destroyed by Veolia Environnement North America. The company won a contract for the job in February from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which is overseeing the elimination of Syria’s chemical weapons. Under the plan, about 500 metric tons of precursor chemicals will be sent to commercial hazardous waste disposal facilities in Finland, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. The initial shipment, which left Syria earlier this month aboard a Norwegian freighter, includes 114.6 metric tons of chemical precursors that will be incinerated by Veolia. The cargo consists of hydrogen fluoride, diphosphorus pentasulfide, phosphorus trichloride, phosphorus oxychloride, and hydrochloric acid.