Montreal firm to design chemical weapons destruction system

MONTREAL—Quebec-based environmental services firm PyroGenesis Canada Inc. has won a deal to build a mobile plasma system that will be used to destroy chemical weapons.

According to the company, it was awarded the deal by an “international military consortium” after “extensive discussions with specialty military groups over the past 18 months” to engineer a tactical mobile plasma system to destroy chemical warfare agents like those being used in Syria.

“The situation in Syria has highlighted the urgent need for a tactical mobile unit that can be readily deployed, have rapid destruction capabilities and generate no toxic by-products,” the company said in a statement.

The deal, which could be worth $1.5 million, will be executed in two phases—the first of which is to engineer a self-contained mobile tactical plasma unit.

Phase two would see the unit built and delivered, though PyroGenesis said the second phase has not been contracted and could be delayed or cancelled.

“Delivering a technology that can be dropped off the back of a plane in the harshest environment to instantaneously destroy some of the most dangerous substances known to man has significant commercial ramifications,” Gillian Holcroft, executive vice-president of strategic alliances with PyroGenesis, said in a statement.

“The system is scalable and, as such, larger units can be delivered for … destruction of both hazardous chemicals and biological threats.”

Should the deal proceed to phase two, the company said it expects the system to be delivered this year.