Ukraine to get rid of rest of melange rocket fuel component by early 2014 - spokesman
KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) - With the assistance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Ukraine plans to dispose of its remaining stockpiles of toxic rocket fuel component known as "melange" by February at the latest, according to Ukraine's Defense Ministry.
"If it all goes the way we are planning it, we'll be able to say in January or February that all of the melange has been removed from Ukraine," ministry spokesman Serhiy Korotayev told a news conference during the OSCE's 20th Ministerial Council that opened in Kyiv on Thursday.
Evacuating melange stores from Ukraine is an OSCE project. OSCE spokesman Anton Martynyuk put the cost of the project at about 20 million euro.
Over the past four years 14,000 tonnes of a total of 16,000 tonnes of melange has been taken out of Ukraine, Martynyuk said. "It can be said today that this is one of the most successful projects in the whole existence of the OSCE," he said.
The remaining 2,000 tonnes is stored in the regions of Odesa and Kyiv.