NATO Science for Peace and Security (SPS) MODUM

Dumped Chemical Weapons pose an actual environmental and security hazard in the Baltic Sea Region. Their actual position is unknown, and pollution originating from corroded munitions is only roughly estimated. Nowadays, when more and more Industrial Activities are being performed in the Baltic Sea Area, the threat level rises. The dumping operations occurred shortly after World War 2, and included captured German munitions. Operations with munitions from the Soviet occupation zone were performed by Soviet Navy, operations with munitions from British and American occupation zones were performed in areas outside of Baltic Sea (Skagerrak Strait); the fate of munitions from French occupation zone was never reported. Due to difficult legal status of those munitions, and large costs of remediation and retrieval, removal of those weapons from the Baltic Sea bottom seems unlikely in foreseeable future. Nevertheless, environmental and security challenge created by dumping operations needs to be addressed by Baltic Sea countries. One of possible low-cost solution is the creation of monitoring network, providing info about exact location and environmental threat posed by sea dumped chemical weapons (CW).