Re: AP News Flash - uranium

["Franz Schoenhofer" <franz.schoenhofer@chello.at>]

-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Thomas J Savin <tjsav@lycos.com>
An: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Datum: Donnerstag, 18. Jänner 2001 17:23
Betreff: AP News Flash - uanium


>Just saw this on the wire - thought it to be of interest.  Enjoy - Tom
>


Yes, it was of interest indeed, because this seems to me to be the first
message from a news agency, which sheds some light on the facts about the
rumors of plutonium in depleted uranium. It is probably not scientifically
all to accurate, but when knowing a little about uranium one can extract
something like a "most likely" fact.


>
>UN: Uranium Traces Found in Weapons


This should obviously read "U-236 found ........"

>
>GENEVA (AP)  Ammunition tips found at sites targeted by NATO during the
1999 Kosovo conflict contained traces of enriched uranium from nuclear
reprocessing plants, the U.N. Environment Program says.

This should read "..... traces of radionuclides originating from the
reprocessing of nuclear fuel which usually is enriched in uranium-235." This
exact wording would make
sense and is in agreement with the next sentences, except the word
"hazardous" for plutonium is not justified.

>
>That finding indicates that at least some of the ``depleted uranium''
ammunition used by the United States and other NATO countries may have come
from reprocessed nuclear fuel and therefore may also contain more hazardous
plutonium, scientists said.


>
>``One part, a very small part, has been made out of recycled nuclear
material coming from nuclear reactors and reprocessed,'' said Pekka
Haavisto, chairman of the U.N. environment team that visited Kosovo last
year.
>
>A UNEP statement on Tuesday said the team had found faint traces of uranium
236, which does not occur naturally but comes from nuclear power stations.

This should read ".... but is produced when uranium is irradiated in a
nuclear reactor", because it is also generated during plutonium production
and in a CANDU-reactor no enriched uranium is used.

>
>``Everybody knows that U-236 is much more radioactive than depleted
uranium,'' Haavisto told The Associated Press in a telephone interview,
adding that the World Health Organization has been asked to assess the
implications.
>
>But Haavisto stressed that given the minute trace of the U-236  0.0028
percent  in the samples analyzed, there did not appear to be any increased
risk of cancer.
>

Thanks very much for that message again, it is the first time I read some
figures!

>The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity,

I thought a spokesman would be well known, why has he to remain anonymous?

>pointed to tests carried out by the U.S. Department of Energy and reported
by the Defense Department last December, which said depleted uranium
munitions could contain a few parts per billion of so-called transuranics 
plutonium, neptunium and americium.

Thanks again for the numbers (=facts)!


>
>That report said the transuranics contributed ``an additional 0.8 percent
to the radiation dose from the depleted uranium itself''  an amount it said
scientists consider ``insignificant.''
>
>The initial findings for the new U.N. report came from a respected Swiss
atomic and chemical research laboratory in Spiez.

Yes, I can confirm that this official governmental laboratory has an
excellent reputation and that their results can be trusted.

>``It is no secret that, after the separation (of plutonium from uranium),
there are always traces of plutonium,'' the institute said.


I do not believe that any Radsafer would object to that.

>
>It said that plutonium is about 200,000 times more radioactive than uranium
and its radiotoxicity is about a million times higher. Even less than a
thousandth of a gram of plutonium in the lungs could cause serious health
problems, such as bone and lung tumors, it said. >
>However, the head of the Swiss research laboratory, Bernhard Brunner, said
there was no sign that plutonium had been found.

It is obviously below the LLD - therefore any contribution of it to the dose
would be far below anything detectable or even calculatable (I am sure this
is wrong English, but I suppose it is understandable.....).

Franz


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