Re: DU in the Balkans

[James Myers <JHM@nrc.gov>]

I'll second Glen Vicker's comment.    Of all the problems in the Balkans, DU contamination is not in top 1000 in my opinion.    He's right, of course, about the minimal use of DU ordinance.  DU rounds are used against tanks or hard targets.  In the Kosovo campaign only air craft were used.   Did you see any strafing going on?   Nope!   Did we use a lot of cruise missiles, smart bombs, cluster bombs and iron bombs.  Yep!   Not very damn likely that there is a "DU" problem over there.   

No matter how it is defined (see Ruth's comment), you can't characterize the "stuff" unless you use very fancy gear (see Phil Hype's comment).   Its unlikely that the assessment teams have the sophistication to perform a quality analysis in the field.   I believe their findings will turn out to be naturally occurring isotopes and DU associated with weapons.   The source of this contamination will likely be the wood and coal they use as a heat source. 

The Kosovo battlefield looks a lot like the Desert Storm battle field.   Lots of discrete targeting.   Lots of discrete damage.   Assuming that DU was used on one of these  discrete targets, the dispersion would be very localized and not covering the entire country.   Just like Desert Storm.  

Absent reproducible evidence to the contrary, the DU issue is another non-issue, I think.   A red herring.  Makes great headlines but little sense.   

As to Balkan risks,  empirical evidence indicates that  you are likely to die from unexploded ordinance (CBU), mines, booby traps, or,  in the case of  the 14 Serbian farmers murdered while harvesting their grain by persons yet to be identified, ...."lead posioning."

And when the Balkan fall and winter hit , you can move hunger, disease and exposure to the top of the list because the crops weren't harvested and the highways and bridges are destroyed preventing re-supply of the civilian population.   (See the Washington Post for an article about the blockage of the Danube by downed bridges.  The distruction of these "strategic" military targets prevents barge traffic on the Danube which carries over 1 million tons of food and necessities to the civilian population.)    This is a real problem.

Just my opinon,

Jim Myers   
jhm@nrc.gov

 


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               !
                                                                                                                                
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html