depleted uranium a presentation prepared by the medical association for prevention of war

Depleted Uranium

A presentation prepared by the Medical Association for Prevention

of War

MAPW (Australia) Depleted Uranium 2006

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Why is Depleted Uranium of Concern?

Australia exports uranium to states with weapons using depleted uranium (DU)

Risks to those exposed to radiation from military uses of DU are sufficiently high to warrant concern

DU constitutes an unacceptable cost of contemporary armed conflict to civilian populations


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Depleted Uranium

The basics Military uses of DU Health effects Action

The Basics


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Uranium

Silver-white, lustrous, dense, weakly radioactive element Found the natural environment Mixture of three radioactive isotopes 238U, 235U, and

234U Approximately 90 µg (micrograms) of uranium exists in

the human body from normal intakes of water, food and air. About 66% is found in the skeleton, 16% in the liver, 8% in the kidneys and 10% in other tissues.

Used primarily in nuclear power plants. However, most reactors require uranium in which the 235U content is enriched from 0.72% to about 1.5-3%.


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Depleted Uranium

The uranium remaining after removal of the enriched fraction contains about 99.8% 238U, 0.2% 235U and 0.001% 234U by mass; this is referred to as depleted uranium or DU

Depleted uranium (DU) contains at least three times more 235U than natural uranium

Weakly radioactive and a radiation dose from it would be about 60% of that from purified natural uranium with the same mass

The behaviour of DU in the body is identical to that of natural uranium


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Depleted Uranium

Troops exposed to multiple agents including: DU, insect repellent, petrochemicals, vaccines, + nerve gas and drugs against nerve gas.

May be implicated in Iraqi illnesses and congenital deformities

Gulf war syndrome

>25,000 US and UK veterans Precautionary principle:

IPPNW calls for a ban on the use of depleted uranium for military purposes


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Depleted Uranium

Waste product of uranium enrichment (and reprocessing)

U235 0.7% reduced to ~0.2%, 60% of radioactivity of natural uranium

Half-lives: U238 4.5 b y U235 710 m y U234 250 k y

Sometimes contaminated with U236, transuranics - plutonium, americium, neptunium, technetium-99

Huge quantities available (eg US DOE 728,000 T) Inexpensive


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Isotope Composition, Chemical Half-lives and Isotope Ratios in Natural and Depleted Uranium

ISOTOPE NATURAL DEPLETED HALF-LIFE

U-238 99.2749% 99.7947% 4.49 billion years

U-235 0.7196% 0.2015% 710 million years

U-234 0.0055% 0.0008% 248,000 years


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DU Use

Civilian: counterweights in aircraft, radiation shields in medical radiation therapy machines and containers for the transport of radioactive materials

Military: defensive armour plate


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Alpha Particle, Beta Particle, Gamma Ray (small).

DU is Radioactive and Produces:

Military Uses of DU


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Military Uses of Depleted Uranium

Iraq/Kuwait1991

Bosnia1994-5

Kosovo/Serbia/Montenegro

1999

Afghanistan2001-3

Iraq2003

Source UK tanksUS aircraftUS tanks

US aircraft US aircraft US aircraft UK tanksUS aircraftUS tanksUS fighting

vehicles

Quantity 286 metric tons

3.2 metric tons

9.5 metric tons Unknown Unknown


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Twice as dense as lead, rel easy to work with, pyrophoric (ignites > 600°C), ‘self-sharpening’

Aerolisation, burning, oxidation Armour plating esp tanks Munitions 20 - 120 mm Used by various militaries (no longer Australia) Known use:

Persian Gulf war 1991 350 tonnes Balkans mid 90s 11 tonnes Iraq 2003 1100 - 2200 tonnes

Regarded by US /NATO as ‘conventional’ weapon



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Military DU exposure: vehicles/tanks exposed to fires involving DU fragments resuspended dust

Civilian DU exposure same as military residual munitions /fragments (70-80% of munitions used) Dust resuspended - children ingestion Food and groundwater

Commercial and military use : precautions re exposure - personal protective equipment, respirators



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Uranium is a very dense metal Munitions with dense penetrators such as uranium and

tungsten, pierce through most materials When it hits a target, the uranium tip of the penetrator

melts so that the core gets sharper. In contrast, tungsten penetrators tend to blunt (‘mushroom’) on impact.

Uranium particles ignite spontaneously (pyrophoricity), which can lead to combustion

The huge waste stockpiles of the uranium enrichment industry require costly storage and monitoring. So the raw material (DUF6) is readily available at low cost

Military Advantages Of Uranium Weapons


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China France

Greece Israel

Pakistan Russia

Saudi Arabia Turkey

Ukraine United Kingdom

United states of America

Countries with DU Munitions or Armour

Health Effects of DU


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Uranium Health Effects

Toxic and radioactive heavy metal Soluble and insoluble forms, can enter body by ingestion, inhalation

or embedded fragments Average adult intake ~500 mcg /y Soluble forms excreted by kidney fairly quickly, insoluble forms

slowly (T1/2 10-20 y) Toxicity:

kidney - esp proximal tubule (largely reversible) Radioactivity:

alpha, beta and gamma major long-term issue is lung / lymph node alpha irradiation

following inhalation (Royal Society 2002 estimate worst-case ~2x lifetime risk)


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Uranium Health Effects


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Medical Effects of DU

Health studies have found that:

populations with well-above-average occupational exposure to inhaled or ingested uranium do not suffer from increased rates of the cancers most likely to be associated with radiation

Do not exhibit the blood disorders that might be expected as a result of chemical toxicity

Studies do not account for:

New experimental data suggesting a role for dust toxicity in the lung


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In the kidneys, the proximal tubules (the main filtering component of the kidney) are considered to be the main site of potential damage from chemical toxicity of uranium

Possible adverse effects on the central nervous system (studies have suggested this but difficult to draw firm conclusions from work done so far)

Medical Effects of DU


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Problems from 238U Dust

After burning, 238U creates fine radioactive and toxic vapor and dust

More than 50% of these particles are just the right size to be inhaled, where they lodge in the lungs and remain for years

It is easily carried by the wind, and stays in the air for hours after impact

It also easily dissolves in water Ground contamination allows resuspension into the air and

eventual water contamination No ground cleanup has occurred in Iraq or Kuwait since the

first Gulf War


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Problems from 238U Fragments

Unburned, 238U remains radioactive – is classified as a “low-level” waste, subject to proper disposal and controls

Fragments corrode with time, creating more dust and contaminated soil

High levels of radioactivity have been measured from fragments found after the first Gulf War in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia


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Possible DU Exposure

Level I: Personnel struck by DU munitions/fragments or who were in, on, or within 50 meters of an armored vehicle when it was struck

Level II: Personnel who routinely enter DU-damaged vehicles or fight fires involving DU munitions as part of their military occupational specialty

Level III: Personnel with “incidental” (insignificant DU exposures) -- infrequent exposure not expected to result in significant uptake of DU


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WHO, UNEP, Royal Society recommend identification, signage, clean-up of impact zones proper disposal long-term monitoring food (esp milk) and water prevention exposure of children evaluation of exposures long-term studies (including reproductive) of exposed

personnel IPPNW, MAPW

In addition to long-term environmental and health monitoring: assessment of exposures ban on use clean-up of contaminated sites (refused to date)

DU – Concerns, Recommendations

Action


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International Legal Issues

Not banned by a specific treaty

Contravenes international humanitarian law (Geneva Conventions)


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International Campaign to Ban DU Weapons

After over a decade of sporadic and ad-hoc campaigning the official campaign was launched by over 30 NGOs in 2004

Draft Convention to ban DU weapons being worked on currently by the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons


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Take Action Today!

Join MAPW in lobbying the Australian government against allowing the US military to test and use DU weapons in training exercises on Australian soil

Support the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons (www.banuraniumweapons.org)


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Medical Association for Prevention of War Australia

(MAPW)

National Office: P.O. Box 1379, Carlton VIC 3053, AustraliaPh: 03 8344 1637 Fax: 03 8344 1638

www.mapw.org.au [email protected] affiliate of International Physicians for Prevention of

Nuclear War (IPPNW)

depleted uranium a presentation prepared by the medical association for prevention of war

Documents

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depleted uranium of

depleted uranium troops

natural uranium slide

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uranium silverwhite

g micrograms of uranium

years u