Federal Office for Civil Protection, SPIEZ LABORATORY
Annual Report 2004
The main activities of the Organic Chemistry Group during 2004 were:
- Synthesis of 126 substances related to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in laboratory-scale amount, including 26 Schedule 1 chemicals, and 38 compounds in microscale amount ( Synthesis of reference chemicals);
- 1 "Annual Declaration of Schedule 1 activities and facilities during the Previous Year", 1 "Annual Declaration of Projected Activities and the Anticipated Production of declared Schedule 1 Facilities" and 2 "Notifications of Transfers of Schedule 1 Chemicals to/from the State Party" (Obligations);
- 1 systematic OPCW inspection of our Toxic Substances Laboratory (Obligations);
- Participation in the Challenge Inspection Exercise co-organized by the OPCW and Switzerland, within Switzerland;
- Supply of reference chemicals to various groups of SPIEZ LABORATORY, such as Analytical Chemistry, Detection & Decontamination, Material Testing, Collective Protection, as well as Toxinology and Environmental Analysis;
- Delivery of reference chemicals as well as spiking of environmental samples with chemical warfare agents and related compounds for the Swiss Armed Forces, for the purpose of training Swiss C specialists, and for the organization of international specialist training courses;
- Delivery of 22 reference chemicals to the OPCW analytical laboratory in the Netherlands, and hydrolysis products of Lewisite 1 and 2 to the General Chemical State Laboratory in Greece;
- 1 order from the firm Fluka AG to test nerve agent detection sets;
- Sample taking in the Republic of Albania for the project VETOXA 2 (destruction of chemical warfare agents in the Republic of Albania);
- Contribution to decision making, planning, and maintenance of the DDPS emergency management task zu Gunsten der DDPS emergency management task force in the event of chemical terrorists attacks (PDF, 1.51 MB);
- Support for international cooperation and assistance programme set out in the CWC by training a young Uruguayan scientist in the field of the organic synthesis (Internship);
- Training of the chemistry apprentices;
- Support of the Arms Control Service with the necessary technical skills for disarmament, arms controls, and the application of the CWC.