Desk Study on the Environment in Iraq Desk Study on the ... - UNEP

A10s are equipped with conventional missiles, but also with guns that fire
rounds of depleted uranium (DU). Television pictures broadcast by media
on 8 April showed A10 aircraft attacking both the Planning and Information
Ministries in Baghdad. Expert observers considered that DU munitions
were used in these attacks. In other incidents, US Abrams tanks are
known to have burned, with likely releases of DU to the environment.
• Overall, it is likely that significant amounts of DU rounds have been
fired (around 290 metric tons were reportedly fired during the 1991
Gulf War 111 ), with additional DU released into the environment from
the burning of armour plating. This may involve any or all of the
following potential risks to the environment and human health, based
on UNEP’s findings in the Balkans: 112
– Inhalation of DU dust at the time of munition impact, leading to a
potentially serious additional health risk to anyone in the immediate
vicinity who survived the initial blast and subsequent fire;
– Widespread, low-level contamination of the ground surface by DU;
– Presence of intact DU penetrators buried in soft ground (which
might be dug up and handled by unprotected individuals, leading
to a low-level but unnecessary beta radition dose to the skin);
30 mm depleted
uranium round
– Presence of DU penetrator fragments on the ground surface (which might be picked
up and handled by unprotected individuals, including ‘souvenir’ hunters, leading to a
low-level but unnecessary radiation dose);
– Possible migration of DU into ground water (and from there into drinking water
supplies), through corrosion and dissolution of penetrators and penetrator fragments.
Iraqi soldiers stand on top of a destroyed ed US tank in the southern outskirts of Baghdad
FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS
GORAN TOMASEVIC - REUTERS
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF CONFLICT
on the Environment in Iraq
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