US ammunition may have been made with 'dirty' depleted uranium

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UN finds Kosovo nuclear danger

US ammunition may have been made with 'dirty' depleted uranium

Special report: depleted uranium

Capella in Geneva and Brown and Norton-

Wednesday January 17, 2001

Fragments of depleted uranium ammunition found in Kosovo were made with

reprocessed fuel from nuclear reactors, the United Nations confirmed

yesterday, raising new fears about the risks of contamination.

Officials of the UN environment programme said tests on material gathered by

its team of experts in Kosovo had revealed traces of uranium 236 - an

isotope found only in spent nuclear fuel - among weapons delivered by Nato

aircraft in the 1999 conflict.

The discovery came as the latest senior figure to enter the debate, the

commander of British forces in the Gulf war, Sir de la Billiere,

called last night for a full public inquiry into claims that exposure to

depleted uranium weapons had caused serious illnesses among British troops.

He also suggested compensation for afflicted service personnel.

The latest DU discovery, which follows the investigation of eight of the 112

sites in Kosovo by a team of UN scientists last November, is likely to

prompt questions about what other dangerous radioactive materials may have

been contained in the US shells.

Futher analysis is being carried out in five European laboratories to

determine radioactivity levels. The World Health Organisation and other

international bodies have also been asked to give their as sessment of the

implications of the finding.

There are two types of depleted uranium, known as " clean and dirty " . Until

now it has been assumed that the material used in US shells was of the clean

variety which is obtained as a side-product of the extraction of uranium 235

from ore to make nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons.

By contrast " dirty " DU is what is left over when the fuel has been through a

nuclear reaction. It is known as " dirty " because it may be contaminated with

traces of far more dangerous isotopes such as plutonium and other highly

radioactive particles.

" This is the first time that the spent fuel origins of DU munitions have

emerged, " Kyd, a spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency,

which is taking part in the UN's investigation, said last night.

The UN environment programme said in a statement last night that the amount

of uranium 236 had been so small that it had minimal extra radioactive

toxicity.

However, it said a final assessment would only be made once testing on spent

ammunition, soil, water and milk samples collected in Kosovo is completed

next month.

When British Nuclear Fuels supplied shells to the MoD for use in the Gulf

war, it used clean DU. But in 1993, according to documents seen by the

Guardian, 120,000kg of DU were imported from the US for use in munitions.

None of this was used by British forces in Kosovo although tanks with this

ammunition on board were ready for deployment. Last night it was not known

whether the DU imported into Britain was clean or dirty.

The likely explanation of how dirty DU came to be used in Kosovo is one of

cost and ease of access by the US military. In the privatised world of US

nuclear utilities the clean DU would belong to private companies.

In the possession of the government would be stockpiles of dirty DU left

over from the cold war when the US military reprocessed thousands of tonnes

of spent nuclear fuel to extract the plutonium. For every tonne of plutonium

gained, 100 tonnes of dirty DU would have to be stored.

In the 1980s and 1990s all four big nuclear powers - Russia, US, UK and

France - began converting stockpiles of otherwise useless DU into armour

piercing weapons. It was not until last night that anyone outside military

circles realised that some of it was dirty DU.

Meanwhile, it emerged that General Sir de la Billiere confirmed he was

not warned that DU weapons could pose a radiation danger.

Sir 's intervention will be welcomed by Gulf war vet erans convinced

the shells have led to serious illnesses.

Asked by the BBC News if he supported calls for a full public inquiry into

DU weapons, Sir replied: " Of course, for two reasons. If indeed there

is a proven link to illnesses (veterans have) got to be looked after and

receive proper compensation. "

Secondly, he said, it was critically important to establish whether there

was a link because if there was not, the military would want to go on us ing

the weapons.

Asked if he was warned about DU weapons - fired by British tanks as well as

American armour and aircraft during the Gulf war - Sir said: " I was

not aware there were any specific dangers to it. "

He added that British commanders wanted to make sure they had the " best

equipment on the market " .