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riferimento UNEP per informazioni su Uranio 236 nei proiettili NATO
>Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 10:57:28 +0100
>Subject: Uranio 236 nei proiettili NATO
>From: "AlessandroGimona"<agimona@libero.it>
>To: pck-ecologia@peacelink.it
>
>From: Robert.Bisset@unep.org
> (UNEP News Release,For information only-Not an official record)
>
> GENEVA, 16 January 2001 Early laboratory results confirm that
> pieces of DU penetrators found at sites targeted by NATO during
> the 1999 Kosovo conflict contain Uranium 236, the United Nations
> Environment Programme UNEP) reported here today.
>
> Scientists working for the UNEP Depleted Uranium (DU)
> Assessment Group are analysing the contents of the seven
> penetrators ammunition tips made out of depleted uranium
> found during a UNEP field mission to Kosovo in November 2000.
>
> Isotope analyses to determine the types of uranium present show
> that 0.0028 percent of the uranium in the penetrators is in the form
> of isotope U-236. The presence of U-236 indicates that part of the
> DU came from reprocessed uranium. This information was provided
> by one of the five laboratories being used by UNEP for its DU
> assessment work. According to the laboratory the content of U-236
> in the depleted uranium is so small that the radiotoxicity is not
> changed compared to DU without U236. However, the final
> assessment by UNEP will be made only once results from all
> laboratories are available.
>
> "This is first laboratory result based on our field work,"
> said UNEP
> Executive Director Klaus Toepfer. "We have asked the World
> Health Organization and all of our other partners for their
> assessments of this finding while we continue with the scientific
> analysis."
>
> UNEP's Kosovo field mission team, consisting of 14 experts from
> several countries, collected soil, water, and vegetation samples,
> conducted smear tests on buildings and destroyed army vehicles,
> and found penetrators and sabots. Remnants of DU ammunition
> were found at eight of the 11 sites that were visited.
>
> The 340 samples collected are now being analysed for both toxicity
> and radioactivity in five European laboratories in an effort to
> determine whether the use of DU during the Balkans conflict may
> pose any risks to human health or the environment.
>
> The results of the tests will be ready in early March 2001, when
> UNEP will publish a full report of its findings.
>
> Note to journalists: For more information, please contact UNEP
> Spokesperson Mr. Tore Brevik at +254-2-623292 or
> tore.brevik@unep.org; the UNEP Depleted Uranium Assessment
> Team Chairman Mr. Pekka Haavisto at +358-40-588 4720 or
> pekka.haavisto@upi-fiia.fi; or UNEP press officer Mr. Michael
> Williams at +41-22-9178242, +41-79-409-1528 or
> michael.williams@unep.ch. See also http://balkans.unep.ch.
>
> UNEP News Release 01/04
> --------------------------------------------
> Robert Bisset
> Office of the Spokesman/Director
> Communications and Public information
> UNEP, P.O. Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya
> Tel. +254-2-623084, Fax. +254-2-623692
> Robert.Bisset@unep.org, http://www.unep.org
>
>
>Alessandro Gimona
>agimona@libero.it