Uranio 236 nei proiettili NATO

["AlessandroGimona"<agimona@libero.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 U–236.  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