While officials from Britain and Russia continue the debate over who exactly poisoned former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok, work has started in Salisbury, southern England, of what is deemed to be a major decontamination task expected to take several months.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the leading UK governmental body in the operation, has identified nine sites that require "specialist cleaning" following the poisoning of the couple on 4 March.
The highest concentration of the military grade Novichok nerve agent was found at Skripal's house, in Christie Miller Road. Sites affected include The Maltings, the cemetery, Zizzi and the Ashley Wood compound. Of the nine sites, three are in the city centre.
The nine sites identified by Defra are:
- The Maltings
- Zizzi
- The Mill
- Salisbury ambulance Station
- Amesbury ambulance Station
- Ashley Wood compound on Churchfields
- Police officer Nick Bailey's home in Alderholt
- Sergie Skripal's home in Christie Miller road
- Two areas of Bourne Hill
According to a Defra report, work to clean each site will involve a process of testing, removal of items which may have been contaminated, chemical cleaning and retesting.
The work, which is expected to take several months, is being planned and overseen by Defra based on expert advice from Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Public Health England, Department for Health and Social Care, Home Office, and Ministry of Defence (MOD).
The clean-up operation will be carried out in partnership with Wiltshire Council with support from the MOD, who are providing specialist teams to carry out work on the sites. Around 190 specialist military personnel from the Army and RAF will support the operation.
Sites will not be released back into use until test results and the work undertaken has been reviewed and approved by the government’s decontamination science assurance group.
Defra has also revealed that the nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was delivered 'in a liquid form.'
