2. Environmental priority sites

2.7 Use of depleted uranium

The 1991 Gulf War was the first conflict in which depleted uranium (DU) munitions were used extensively. A total of about 300 tonnes of DU were fired by the US and the UK during this war, with DU remaining in the environment as dust or small fragments.

The US Department of Defense and the UK Ministry of Defence have admitted that the American and British coalition forces also used ammunition made from DU in the 2003 Iraq War. British Challenger tanks, for example, expended 1.9 tonnes of DU munitions, approximately twice as much as UK troops used in the 1991 Gulf War. DU was used in tank battles, also involving UK troops, to the west and southwest of Al Basrah.

The UK Ministry of Defence has provided UNEP with details of British DU target locations and has offered to provide advice on carrying out risk assessments on DU within urban areas, and on long-term monitoring of DU in the environment, including water resources. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, target areas are likely to be at a maximum distance of 3 km from firing positions. In June 2003, scientists from the UK Ministry of Defence completed a preliminary technical assessment of some Iraqi tanks thought to have been struck by DU rounds. So far, the UK Ministry of Defence findings indicate very low levels of DU in the vicinity of these tanks. Most of the heavy military equipment has been moved, mainly by troops, from the battlegrounds to scrap areas. While this made it difficult for the UK scientists to find remaining tanks or other heavy military equipment in the actual areas of battle, the scientists noted that most of the tanks found showed low levels of radioactivity, and were clearly marked with paint indicating that they had been hit by DU ammunition.

UNEP has not received information from the US on any environmental assessment or remediation of DU contamination in Iraq.

The quantities of DU expended in the US air operations, tank battles and ground operations are still unknown. The vehicles that usually carry DU munitions - Abrams tanks (M1A1, M1A2), Bradley Fighting Vehicles (M2) and Light Armoured Vehicles (LAV-25) - were involved in the fighting. There is currently no evidence that missiles or bombs used during the war - particularly the AGM-86D CALCM hard target penetrators (153 were used) or bunker-busting bombs - contain DU.

The media occasionally showed footage of scrap areas holding destroyed Iraqi vehicles. These pictures also made it evident that local people usually had free access to these areas and were extracting material such as iron plates. It can be expected that these areas contain vehicles hit by DU. Without delay, therefore, vehicles in these areas should be investigated, and those hit by DU should be removed to areas where access is strictly controlled.

According to a recent IAEA report, published in August 2003, depleted uranium from munitions used in the 1991 Gulf War does not pose a long-term radiological hazard to the people of Kuwait. The Kuwait government requested, in February 2002, the IAEA to assess possible long-term radiological impacts of DU residues at 11 locations in Kuwait. Although the findings of this report are not alarming, further policy action and additional research are needed to resolve the uncertainties regarding the use and effects of DU munitions in the Iraq wars. Based on available information, much of the DU expenditure used during the 2003 conflict appears to be in or near urban areas, where people live, work, draw water and grow food. Therefore, contaminated areas need to be identified and assessed, and the population should be tested and monitored. People generally are clearly unaware of the risks of exposure to DU. Urgent steps need to be taken to raise awareness of the potential risks and to introduce protection measures, including posting of warning signs and restricting access at contaminated locations and storage sites.

ANNEX 2: REFERENCES

2. Environmental priority sites