US considering incinerating Syria's chemical weapons on a barge

Unable to find a country willing to dispose of Syria's chemical weapons, the United States is considering dissolving or incinerating the weapons' chemical components on a barge, according to senior US officials.

The two systems under review are intended to destroy the materials that are designed to be combined to form chemical munitions. Syria's smaller arsenal of operational chemical weapons would be destroyed separately, officials said.

Officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, working in Syria to find and identify the weapons, would monitor the destruction. The destruction would be carried out following safety standards set by legislation in the US and the European Union, according to officials familiar with the proposal. Officials did not say whether any chemical residue would be dumped in the ocean.

The seaborne options have received more serious consideration after Albania on Friday turned down a US appeal to destroy the weapons on its territory; the decision followed street protests by thousands of Albanians.

Norway rejected an earlier request, saying it did not have the expertise or the facilities to destroy the weapons. The issue caused a major political dispute there as well.

Under one plan, five incinerators operating aboard the barge would destroy all of Syria's most serious precursor materials for chemical weapons in fewer than 60 days. Officials said the byproducts would be harmless salts and other solids.