Saturday, September 23 2017 15:17

ArmInfo. The international  expert group does not see the threat of a major catastrophe at the  chemical plant Nairit, but in order to avoid possible risks, it  advises on-site to organize the appropriate storage of hazardous  chemicals.

According to the press service of the Ministry of Emergency  Situations of Armenia, the head of the department David Tonoyan  presented the final report of a group of foreign experts who  conducted a study at the Nairit plant. The Permanent Coordinator of  the United Nations in Armenia Bradley Busetto, representatives of  various UN agencies and a chemical enterprise also took part in the  meeting.

It is noted that the experts got acquainted with the plant  technologies, studied the volumes of chemicals stored at the plant,  their condition and storage conditions, containers and warehouses, as  well as the possible impact on people and the environment.

According to the results of the research and the conclusion of the  expert group members, there is no threat of a major catastrophe at  the Nairit plant. At the same time, international experts advise  on-site to ensure the proper storage and management of hazardous  chemicals in order to reduce the risks of possible disasters.

Earlier, the permanent coordinator of the Armenian office of the  United Nations, Bradley Busetto, met with an expert group that  arrived in Armenia on September 10 to assess the damage caused by the  fire that broke out on August 28 at the Nairit chemical plant. The  meeting was organized by the Office of OCHA (Office for the  Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) of the United Nations. The  expert group was selected in Geneva by the Joint Office (JEU) of UNEP  (United Nations Environment Program) and the UKPO, which monitors the  activation of international rapid response mechanisms and distributes  personnel in environmental and / or industrial emergencies. The  humanitarian donor community fully responded to the request for  technical assistance. In particular, the EU civil protection  mechanism was used. The selected group includes one expert from  Sweden and France, and the Swiss Agency for Development and  Cooperation (SDC) provided another expert for the assessment. Recall  that at 13:10 on August 28, a signal came that a fire broke out in  the territory of the rubber plant "Nairit", which had completely  ceased its work in 2014 with multi-billion debts. The fire was  awarded the second, and after and the third category of complexity.  12 combat crews and operational groups of the Crisis Management  Center left for the scene. In areas 14:00 the fire was isolated.  On-site specialists from the radiation, chemical and biological  monitoring group of the Rescue Service work. According to preliminary  data from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, a lacquer-ethanol  burned up. Immediately responsible services said that there were no  thunderstorms of chemical release into the atmosphere.