Memorandum Number:
No. 082-M
March 28, 1995
MEMORANDUM FOR
CORRESPONDENTS
The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Belarus Ministry of Defense today
announced the opening of an analytical chemistry laboratory in Minsk to
assist in the environmental restoration of former military bases in Belarus.
The laboratory will be dedicated in a ceremony April 14.
The facility is
being established under the Cooperative Threat Reduction(Nunn-Lugar)
Program. A $25 million implementing agreement for assisting Belarus
with the environmental restoration of former Strategic Rocket Forces
bases was signed July 22, 1993, by the DoD and the Belarus Ministry
of Defense. American assistance includes the laboratory, remote sensing
and geographic information systems, remediation planning, equipment
and training to provide Belarus the expertise to assess and clean up
environmental damage to former SS-25 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
bases so they can be used for civilian purposes. The Department awarded
a $3.5 million contract for the laboratory project to the Environmental
Chemical Corporation () Inca., of , Calif., in September 1994. In cooperation
with Belarus, modified and improved existing laboratory facilities to
establish and furnish the analytical chemistry lab for environmental
remediation activities. The U.S. is also training Belarusian technicians
on the equipment, laboratory operations and sample collection, preparation
and processing. The lab is located at Ecomir,the Belarus agency that
will conduct analytical operations for this effort.
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