陸自化学学校を国際機関が認証　試料解析に協力―防衛省

　陸上自衛隊化学学校が、化学兵器廃止に取り組む国際機関「化学兵器禁止機関（ＯＰＣＷ）」に協力する研究施設「指定ラボ」に認証され、学校がある陸自大宮駐屯地（さいたま市）で２５日、記念行事が行われた。木原稔防衛相は「大量破壊兵器の拡散防止は重要だ。技量を高め貢献してほしい」と、隊員に訓示した。
　ＯＰＣＷは化学兵器禁止条約に基づき、化学兵器の使用や製造の疑いがある場所に査察官を派遣して試料を採取。指定ラボで詳しく分析し、化学兵器に関わるものか鑑定する。２０１３年にはノーベル平和賞を受賞した。（2024/09/25-16:19）

A ceremony was held in Saitama on Wednesday to commemorate the designation of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force's Chemical School as a laboratory cooperating with an international organization dedicated to eliminating chemical weapons.
   "It is important to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said during the event at the GSDF's Camp Omiya in the city, just north of Tokyo, where the chemical school is located.
   Kihara said he wants members of the school to improve their skills and contribute to efforts by the international body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, to abolish chemical weapons.
   Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the OPCW sends inspectors to sites where chemical weapons are suspected of being used or manufactured to collect samples.
   Designated laboratories analyze the samples to determine whether they are related to chemical weapons. In 2013, the OPCW won the Nobel Peace Prize.