Australians who served in the Gulf War may have unwittingly exposed themselves to depleted uranium residues while taking souvenirs from Iraqi tanks blown up by allied forces.

Veterans taking part in a national health study have confirmed that they collected souvenirs from burnt-out vehicles.

Malcolm Sim, the Monash University professor in charge of the study, said some Australians who served in the Gulf could have been exposed to depleted uranium, but the number was not likely to be high.

Most Australians served in the Gulf War on ships and did not spend much time on land.

"But we know there were some possible exposures to depleted uranium," Professor Sim said.

"We know the ships docked near where the shells had been used to attack enemy tanks and there were souvenirs taken of bits of Iraqi tanks which may have been contaminated."

Fire may have also spread contamination.

A small number of Australians who served with United States and British forces took part in the ground war and could have had contact with depleted uranium.

The Federal Government announced last week that all Australians who served in the Balkans would be given medical examinations to assess whether they had been exposed to depleted uranium.

The Monash team hopes to examine all the 1865 Australians who served in the Gulf War and an equal number of service personnel who did not go to the Gulf for comparison.

Professor Sim said about 700 Gulf veterans had registered and many of them had already had their medical examinations. The study was going faster than he had expected.

Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process and is only slightly radioactive.

It is used in armor and anti-tank shells because it is extremely dense - nearly twice as heavy as lead - giving it greater hitting power.

The main health threat comes from its chemical properties and not from radioactivity.

But some reports say the depleted uranium can be contaminated with tiny amounts of plutonium, which can cause cancer if lodged in the body.

As a toxic heavy metal, depleted uranium may cause kidney problems and can be swallowed or inhaled as tiny particles dispersed by fires or when shells hit armor plating.

Professor Sim said that for some veterans, filling in the questionnaires brought back painful memories.

That fitted with the results of overseas studies, which showed significant levels of post-traumatic stress disorder were emerging.

"We've had feedback from a couple of people that thinking about it (the Gulf War) again and filling it out in a questionnaire was a bit traumatic," Professor Sim said.

"We can understand that. Some of the people had a difficult time and they relived bad experiences they'd had.

"They were not just out on ships swanning around. They were certainly under attack."

Giant clouds of vapor from burning oil wells hovered above the ships in the Gulf and were inhaled by servicemen and women.

The Monash team is also trying to work out which Australians were given the anti-chemical warfare agent pyridostigmine bromide, a potent drug designed to reduce the effects of any chemical warfare agents that attacked the nervous system.