Pavlograd Chemical Plant - Arms Control
In 1991, President George Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), reducing U.S. and former Soviet arsenals to 6,000 strategic warheads each by 2002. START's provisions allowed inspection teams to observe U.S. sites with nine hours notice. The treaty allowed Russian inspectors to observe 36 U.S. sites, and U.S. inspectors observed 65 sites in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.
The START 1 agreement established continuous monitoring at the perimeter and portals of each side's mobile ICBM assembly facilities. The US had the right to establish a monitoring facility at Votkinsk, which was the final assembly facility for the SS-25, and at Pavlograd, which was the final assembly facility for the SS-24. The Soviet side had the right to monitor the Thiokol Strategic Operations facility at Promontory, Utah, the final assembly facility for the accountable stage of the Peacekeeper. Such monitoring would also be established at any future facilities at which mobile ICBM assembly takes place.
Under Joint Compliance and Inspection Commission Joint Statement Number S-10 [June 17, 1997], the new boundary of the Pavlograd Conversion or Elimination Facility shall be the boundaries shown on the site diagrams of the Pavlograd facility dated July 31, 1996, Area 1 of the facility dated July 31, 1996, Area 2 of the facility dated July 31, 1996, and Area 3 of the facility dated July 31, 1996, which were attached to this Joint Statement [Attachment is classified]. The portions of the Pavlograd Conversion or Elimination Facility to be excluded, pursuant to this Joint Statement, from within the boundaries shown on the site diagrams of the facility dated March 4, 1996, and Area 3 of the facility dated March 4, 1996 shall not be subject to inspection unless such portions are included within the boundary of any inspection site. The changes to the boundary of the Pavlograd Conversion or Elimination Facility shall become effective on the date specified in the notification provided by Ukraine in accordance with paragraph 19 of Section I of the Protocol on Notifications Relating to the Treaty, or the date such notification is provided by the Ukraine, or the date of entry into force of this Joint Statement, whichever is latest.
Strategic Nuclear Arms Elimination (SNAE) funding for Ukraine in FY 2003 and FY 2004 supported Storage and Elimination of 163 SS-24 Missile Motor located at Pavlograd Chemical Plant and Pavlograd Mechanical Plant. Defense Threat Reduction Agency completed the provision of technical assistance to the State Space Agency of Ukraine and Pavlograd Chemical Plant in December 2018 to safely store SS-24 loaded solid motor cases; support the safe removal of propellant; and deliver and commission a complex Eisenmann incinerator to eliminate empty motor cases.
During a working trip to Dnipropetrovsk region on 05 April 2011, President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych familiarized himself with the work of the State Enterprise "Scientific-Production Association "Pavlograd Chemical Plant", reports the press service of the head of state. In particular, V. Yanukovych got acquainted with the implementation of work on the disposal of conventional ammunition and anti-personnel mines, the equipment of the experimental installation for the extraction of solid rocket fuel and the status of work under the Program for the disposal of solid rocket fuel of intercontinental ballistic missiles RS-22.
The President also took part in the ceremonial opening and launch of a full-scale industrial plant for the hydromechanical disposal of solid rocket fuel. V. Yanukovych noted that today's event is undoubtedly important not only for Ukraine, but also significant in the relations between our state and the United States of America.
Speaking about the facility that is being put into operation, the President said: "This is the first of nine main facilities that we are creating to dispose of the fuel of the mentioned rockets." Viktor Yanukovych noted the carefulness of the fact that Ukraine carries out the construction of such important objects in the conditions of a difficult economic situation in Ukraine and the world.
"Ukraine is consistent in its extremely responsible attitude to international obligations regarding the elimination of nuclear weapons. At the same time, we are aware of the potential danger of further delaying the disposal of thousands of tons of fuel removed from ballistic missiles," Viktor Yanukovych emphasized. "We hope for further cooperation with our American partners," said the President of Ukraine, expressing gratitude to US President Barack Obama for observing the terms of the April 2010 agreements.
The President thanked the leadership of the Pavlograd Chemical Plant for "perseverance and courage in the development and implementation in the installation of own state-of-the-art technologies and technical solutions." V. Yanukovych also noted the high professionalism of the designers, technologists and workers of the plant. "With your work, you increase the image of Ukraine as a high-tech country. It is thanks to all of you that Ukraine has become the second country in the world, where the technologies of hydrowashing of solid rocket fuel and the production of industrial explosives from extracted fuel are being implemented," the head of state noted.
The President called the cooperation of the management of the plant and the region in issues arising from the liquidation of solid fuel a good example. "Pavlograd also contributes to the disposal of thousands of tons of various munitions of the Armed Forces, unsuitable for further use," the President noted. V. Yanukovych expressed confidence that the plant will also increase its participation in the production of modern weapons for the national army to ensure adequate defense capability of Ukraine.
On May 21, 2013, the state-owned enterprise "Scientific-Production Association "Pavlograd Chemical Plant" opened the facility for the disposal of empty RS-22 intercontinental ballistic missile engine casings (ICBMs). The opening ceremony was attended by President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, US Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft, Deputy Director of the Office of Mutual Threat Reduction of the Threat Reduction Agency of the US Department of Defense Andrew Taylor, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksandr Vilkul, Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration Dmytro Kolesnikov , Head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine Yuriy Alekseev.
The facility was created to fulfill the agreements reached during the meeting of the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the President of the United States Barack Obama in April 2010 in Washington during the nuclear security summit, with the financial and technical assistance of the United States. Its opening will make it possible to dispose of empty RS-22 rocket engine casings and solid fuel extraction and processing waste using an environmentally safe method.
OUKD is one of the links of a number of solid rocket fuel disposal facilities for RS-22 rockets, which are being created at the Pavlograd Chemical Plant, and is a significant help of the United States for Ukraine's final fulfillment of its international obligations to eliminate strategic nuclear weapons on its territory. The equipment and technological processes of the facility for the disposal of empty engine casings also allow the disposal of PFM-1(1C) anti-personnel mines from engineering, aviation and artillery cluster munitions. The elimination of PFM-1(1C) anti-personnel mines is carried out within the framework of fulfilling Ukraine's international obligations regarding their destruction under the Ottawa Convention.
Also, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, opened a facility for the production of stabilizing solutions at the state-owned enterprise "Scientific and Production Association "Pavlograd Chemical Plant". Production of stabilizing solutions is carried out on equipment designed by specialists of the Pavlograd Chemical Plant and manufactured at domestic enterprises. The use of highly efficient energy-saving equipment and technologies is foreseen, and a modern automation system ensures the necessary safety of technological processes.
At at hat time, within the framework of the state target Program for the utilization of solid rocket fuel of intercontinental ballistic missiles RS-22 from 163 engines containing 5,000 tons of solid rocket fuel and subject to disposal, fuel from 64 rocket engines (about 1,000 tons of fuel).
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