UP
Subject: [du-list] Fw: UNEP study
of DU targets: need for further research
Date: Sat,
24 Feb 2001 10:56:20 -0000
From: "Dai Williams"
<eosuk@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: du-list@yahoogroups.com
To:
"DU-list" <du-list@yahoogroups.com>
The preliminary UNEP statistics on sampling of
11 target zones contained
a curious anomaly. I hope this will be
commented on when their full
report is published in the next few weeks.
This concerns the question of exactly what happened
to large quantities
of DU penetrators in target zones (typically
fired at the rate of 70 rounds
per second i.e. 50-100 per strike).
The UNEP team only recovered 1 or 2 penetrators
per site (they were under
pressures of time and hazards from other munitions
like cluster bombs).
What happened to the rest? Those that hit
solid targets were expected
to ignite burning about 70% into dust dispersed
into the environment.
Yet there seem to have been very few "dog-ends"
lying around. Were the
penetrators found intact or part-burned?
Many were presumed to be underground (down to
3 metres).
If so were they still intact or did they ignite
to leave nests of DU oxide
underground to be leached out gradually in future
years by groundwater
or agriculture?
This is one aspect of DU environmental testing
that the US or UK
Governments could easily do for themselves: i.e.
fire DU shells into
ground targets and then do an in-depth (down
to bedrock if necessary)
analysis of the results to account for every
shell. There must be
extensive evidence of these effects in DU training
areas in the US and
UK.
Military analysis is probably only concerned
with the effects of DU
shells on armoured targets.
But civilian communities also need to know the
prognosis for DU shells
that hit targets other than armour plating e.g.
when fired at concrete,
stone or brick structures, or bedrock?
Do they only ignite on hitting
metal targets or against any hard substance where
rapid deceleration
creates sufficient kinetic heat to ignite?
What traces do they leave
distinct from conventional 30 mm shells?
These have immediate relevance for other potential
DU target zones
e.g. in the Middle East as well as environmental
impacts in previous
conflict areas.
This information needs to be published in the
DU Civilian Safety Guide
I suggested needs urgent publication by a reliable
source e.g. MTP
a few weeks ago. It is also relevant to
clean-up of DU target zones
and training areas.
Dai Williams, UK