Depleted uranium row rages

January 24, 2001
Issue 

Depleted uranium (DU) is a by-product of uranium enrichment. Enriched uranium contains a greater percentage of the uranium-235 isotope than natural uranium, whereas the DU by-product contains less uranium-235 (and more uranium-238).

Enriched uranium is used in most nuclear reactors and in some nuclear fission weapons. Millions of tons of DU are stored as radioactive waste, but an increasing array of military and civil uses has been found for it.

DU is used to harden bullets, missiles and bombs. During the 1991 Gulf War, about 270 tonnes of DU were scattered across southern Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia by the US and British military. In Bosnia in 1994-95, about 18,000 rounds of DU ammunition (amounting to about 9.5 tonnes) were fired by US and British troops.

About 10.5 tons of DU ammunition were dropped on Yugoslavia in 1999 by the US. In March, NATO confirmed that 31,000 rounds of DU-tipped ammunition had been used by US aircraft.

Health debates

DU has been linked to stillbirths, deformed babies, leukaemia and other cancers, neurocognitive disorders, liver damage and kidney damage. DU has also been linked to the "Gulf War Syndrome", an array of chronic illnesses that has affected thousands of soldiers and civilians following the 1991 war against Iraq.

The US and other governments have been reluctant to acknowledge the use of DU, failed to monitor the exposure of soldiers and others to DU, refused to carry out heath studies or to release information which would allow others to conduct health studies, and they deny any responsibility for cleaning up contaminated sites. As a result, these governments can insist, straight-faced, that no studies reveal health risks associated with DU.

DU itself is not highly radioactive. A significant fraction of a DU "penetrator" can burn upon impact, oxidising into an inhalable aerosol. The risk of heavy metal poisoning from DU is probably greater than the radiation risk. This can cause kidney damage.

For years, the Pentagon asserted that no Gulf War veteran could have inhaled enough DU dust to cause health problems. However, it had no data to support its claim. It was not until seven years after the Gulf War that the Pentagon finally admitted that "thousands" of veterans may have been exposed to DU contamination without any respiratory protection.

The US army was warned of the dangers of DU by the US surgeon-general's office in 1993. Moreover, the US circulated a "hazard awareness" document among NATO allies in July 1999, which said that spent DU ammunition or DU-contaminated materials should not be handled without protective masks and coverings.

The US has been the main producer, user and supplier of DU. DU weapons have been acquired by at least 17 countries, including France, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Pakistan, Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan.

NATO announced on January 17 that it would conduct a health study of veterans of the Balkans wars. Senior NATO medical officers said, without a hint of irony, that a "timely investigation of all reports of increased incidence of symptoms or pathologies is necessary".

Racism

Robert Fisk argued in the January 17 Independent, "Needless to say, there is a highly racist element to our concerns about DU. It is only the fate of European or American soldiers that has caused NATO's flurry of denials. Yesterday's NATO press conference claimed — albeit unconvincingly — only that NATO personnel had not been affected. A handful of unexplained cancers in the Italian and German military had created more furore among European prime ministers than the cull of Muslim or Serb Orthodox lives in Iraq and Bosnia."

A March 1997 British army medical report, leaked earlier this month, warned of the danger of cancer from inhalation of DU dust, thus contradicting the official position of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The MoD subsequently rubbished its own report, saying that it was written by a "junior trainee" and that it was "flawed".

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on January 15 that leaked MoD documents revealed that tests for radiation poisoning among British soldiers were secretly being carried out at the military research centre in Porton Down for at least six months from November 1998.

British government reassurances about the safety of DU are hard to square with the army's DU testing procedures: DU shells are fired into a tunnel and resulting dust is sealed into concrete containers which are buried.

On January 9, in the face of mounting public pressure, the British government offered voluntary screening for veterans of the wars in Kosova and Bosnia.

No less than 13 European governments have announced plans to study the health risks of DU, or have called on NATO to conduct further studies. The German government and European Commission president Romano Prodi have called for the banning of DU ammunition. The Italian defence minister has called for a suspension of the use of DU weapons by NATO until further investigations are carried out. These demands have been rejected by NATO.

The UN will conduct an investigation into DU contamination caused by NATO in Bosnia. A UN team has already assessed 11 sites in Kosova, out of a total of 112.

The chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, said on January 14 that NATO could face a criminal investigation into its use of DU. The tribunal carried out an initial inquiry into the use of DU ammunition in 1999, Del Ponte said, but did not have enough information to pursue the matter.

On January 11, acting Australian Defence Force chief Lieutenant-General Des Mueller said 100-200 Australian military personnel had served in Bosnia or Kosova. Mueller said it was unlikely they had been exposed to DU. Mueller said the Australian military does not use DU and has no stocks.

Australia's main contribution to the DU fiasco is the export of uranium yellowcake, 85% of which becomes DU at enrichment plants. The Euratom Supply Agency's 1999 annual report discussed negotiations regarding possible transfers of DU, derived from Australian uranium, to Russia for further enrichment and arrangements for leaving the resulting waste in Russia.

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