depleted uranium may already be in use on the battlefields of Ukraine
Posted by Gerard on March 31, 2023, 9:39 am
"In a scientific report currently under peer review, Professor Chris Busby presents findings indicating that depleted uranium may already be in use on the battlefields of Ukraine and has been so since the very start of the war—and that this poses a significant risk to public health in the UK and Europe:
Data covering the period November 2017 to November 2022 was obtained from the Atomic Weapons Establishment, Aldermaston to find if there was an increase in uranium associated with the Ukraine war. Results from 9 High Volume Air Samplers deployed onsite and offsite by AWE showed that there were significantly increased levels of uranium in all 9 HVAS samplers[,] beginning in February 2022 when the war began. The result has significant public health implications for the UK and Europe.
The chart below, with outliers removed as per best practice, presents how atmospheric radiation levels have soared in the UK since the war began.
Uranium AWE
Source: "Uranium weapons being employed in Ukraine have significantly increased Uranium levels in the air in the UK", Chris Busby, 2023 Spread
The military policy claim in the West is that since depleted uranium is heavy, radioactive dust resulting from its use settles on the ground at a maximum radius of just ten metres (thirty feet) from the point of impact.
Civilian researchers have pointed to a different possibility: that the heat and burning created by the impact of depleted uranium ammunition gives rise to clouds of minuscule radioactive particles, suspended in air and capable of travelling long distances and injuring and killing people far removed from the battlefield.
This is how the UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology explains the dual risk posed by depleted uranium:
DU can affect human health in two main ways: through its chemical toxicity, and through its radiological effects (uranium emits ionising radiation that can cause cancer).
The conflict of narratives, whether depleted uranium is harmless or poses a serious health risk, was highlighted by the BBC in 2006 when it reported that a senior UN scientist had claimed that research confirming that depleted uranium causes cancer was suppressed.
Lawfulness
In 2003, the British Army seemed to have taken notice of the warnings when it announced a phasing-out of the then-current type of uranium-laced tank ammunition. The announcement came on the heels of reports of leukaemia, kidney damage and lung cancer among soldiers from France, Spain and Italy after the United States' liberal use of depleted uranium in the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo in the late 1990s.
This looming reality, also evidenced by birth defects of epidemic proportions and soaring cancer cases in Iraq in 1991 and 2003–2011, raises the question of the legality of depleted uranium as a weapon. Busby's above-referenced paper observes (with emphasis added):
The question of the dispersion of uranium aerosols from battlefields is of significant legal interest, since if a radioactive weapon resulted in the general contamination of the public in the country of deployment or elsewhere, the weapon would be classifiable as one of indiscriminate effect.
Professor Busby has stated:
If the public really understand what is going on in the environment, as a result of the conflict in Ukraine, the war would stop today.
Culpability
Which side in the conflict in Ukraine might be responsible for using radioactive munitions, such as depleted uranium?
In a recent interview, former US Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter explains that since 2000, only the West has been using depleted uranium and other radioactive material in munitions:
Around 2000, the Russians looked around and said, "You see what happens when NATO use thirty thousand rounds of depleted uranium rounds in Kosovo? High levels of leukaemia. People are starting to get cancer because they have been exposed to depleted uranium. You see what happened in Iraq where kids are deformed; thousands of kids are deformed?"
The Russians banned depleted uranium ...
Birth defects caused by depleted uranium in the war in Iraq from 2003 to 2011 have been documented in highly distressing photographs, including in investigative journalism articles, documentaries and research papers. The radiation damages caused by NATO's bombing of 78-day bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 were decried in 2022 by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesmen Zhao Lijian (misattributed in this video as the Foreign Minister) and Wang Wenbin.": https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/nuclear-expert-depleted-uranium-may-already-be-in-use-in-ukraine
Exclusive: Ukrainian soldiers seen with depleted uranium ammo in UK
"Ukrainian soldiers have been filmed alongside depleted uranium ammunition that Britain is supplying to their country for the fight against Russia.
The footage is contained in a documentary the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) released yesterday as Ukrainian tank crews completed their training.
Britain is gifting 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine together with depleted uranium shells, which Declassified revealed last week.
An MoD spokesperson told the media that the “impact to personal health and the environment from the use of depleted uranium munitions is likely to be low”.
But the decision to supply the ammunition sparked a furious reaction from the Kremlin, with Vladimir Putin pledging on Saturday to retaliate by moving ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons into Belarus.
The depleted uranium (DU) ammunition seen in the MoD documentary is marked “inert”, suggesting it could be a replica. A blue and silver training shell is visible next to it, an expert told Declassified. British and Ukrainian soldiers with depleted uranium ammunition used for Challenger 2 tanks. (Screengrab: UK MoD) A US army instructor was present at the ammunition briefing. (Screengrab: UK MoD)
Doug Weir from the Conflict and Environment Observatory said: “The orange and black munition in the video appears to be an inert display version of the UK’s 120mm CHARM3 DU ammunition.”
CHARM3 is a technical term for Britain’s stockpile of depleted uranium shells.
Weir added: “When DU munitions hit hard targets such as tanks or armoured vehicles, they fragment and burn, generating chemically toxic and radioactive DU particulate [microscopic particles] that poses an inhalational risk to people.
“Managing DU contamination appropriately will be a further burden for Ukraine, in a conflict that has already generated serious pollution problems.”
The shells are shown spread out on a table with other types of ammunition, as Ukrainian tank crews listen to a lecture from US and British soldiers.
The presence of an American soldier at the training session could escalate tensions further, after the White House denied sending any of its own DU stocks to Ukraine last week.
The text on the UK military video states: “Instructors begin to familiarise Gunners, Loaders and Commanders with Challenger 2 ammunition types”. A British soldier shows tank shells to Ukrainian forces. (Screengrab: UK MoD) Ukrainian tank crews look at a depleted uranium shell. (Screengrab: UK MoD) Health impacts
Depleted uranium is standard ammunition for the tanks Britain is giving to Ukraine, despite long running concerns about its health and environmental impacts.
It has been blamed for causing cancer and birth defects in Iraq.
Jack Watling, a researcher at the MoD-funded RUSI think tank, wrote in the Spectator yesterday: “I wouldn’t recommend Russian soldiers go to sleep cradling a depleted uranium round, or lick the tip of the ammunition – depleted uranium is still toxic.”
He added: “But when Russian troops do come into contact with one of these projectiles, the fact that the uranium will be travelling at around 1,800 metres per second and burning up as it flies will be more concerning to any target than its radioactivity.”
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said today: “It is truly inspiring to witness the determination of Ukrainian soldiers having completed their training on British Challenger 2 tanks on British soil.
on March 31, 2023, 9:39 am