--===UNEP Balkans > Press Release > 17 November 2000: UNEP scientific team visits depleted uranium sites in Kosovo===--
http://balkans.unep.ch/press/press001117.html
Depleted Uranium
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__UNEP scientific team visits depleted uranium sites in Kosovo _
_Pristina, 17 November 2000_ - Scientific experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) end their assessment in Kosovo this weekend of several sites where depleted uranium (DU) was used during last year’s conflict.

DU is a dense waste product of the natural uranium enrichment process which can be used to strengthen the tips of bullets and missile nose cones. The aim of the current UNEP assessment is to determine whether the use of DU during the Kosovo conflict has resulted in any current or future health or environmental risks, and to publish a final scientific ;-) report on the findings in February 2001.

Beginning their work on 5 November, the UNEP team visited 13 sites in the western and southern parts of Kosovo where, according to information supplied by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), DU ammunitions were used. At these sites, the scientists took radiation activity measurements as well as samples of soil, water, vegetation and cow's milk. The team also collected several DU ammunitions (penetrators and sabots) used during the conflict and at these specific locations slightly higher radioactivity than normal was measured.

Although the final conclusions of the scientific assessment can only be made after obtaining the results from the laboratory analyses that will now take place, the UNEP team considers that its preliminary findings call for precautions to be taken when dealing with penetrators and sabots found at the identified sites and also near other locations where these ammunitions might be present.

In this regard, the UNEP team refers to the Depleted Uranium Desk Assessment published in October 1999 and the precautionary recommendations presented in that report (available here).

UNEP's assessment work on depleted uranium is being financed by various governments, Switzerland being the main contributor. The identification of the sites visited was made possible from data supplied to the United Nations by NATO. The current field mission was carried out in cooperation with the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the NATO Kosovo Force (KFOR).

The UNEP field team includes 14 experts from Finland (Finnish Institute of International Affairs), Italy (National Environmental Protection Agency ANPA), Sweden (Swedish Radiation Protection Institute), Switzerland (AC-Laboratorium Spiez), UK (Bristol University), US (Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine), two experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and UNEP. The Head of the team is Pekka Haavisto from UNEP.

_Note to journalists:_ For more information, please contact UNEP
Spokesperson Mr. Tore Brevik at 00254-2-623292, email:
tore.brevik@unep.org [tore.brevik@unep.org?Subject=Please, stop any agreement with IAEA] ; or the
Head of the UNEP/DU Assessment Team, Mr. Pekka Haavisto on 0041-79-4770877.

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