---

Ministry of Defence

Answer

Mr. Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on what date, and through which channels, his Department first learned from the United States Administration that depleted uranium shells used by the United States forces in the Balkans conflict were contaminated with plutonium; and if British depleted uranium munitions contain plutonium. [147744] Mr. Spellar: It has long been known in the scientific community, the nuclear industry and by the Defence Radiological Protection Service that depleted uranium (DU) might contain minute traces of isotopes other than U-238, U-235 and U-234. More recently, details about transuranic contamination of US DU, including by plutonium, were made public by the US Department of Energy in September 1999. Subsequent work in the US, reported by the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illness (OSAGWI) in December 2000, showed that the trace quantities of transuranic elements and fission products in US DU armour plate added only 0.8 per cent. to the radiation dose from the DU itself. This is insignificant given the low radioactivity of DU. Information obtained from the Starmet Corporation, who supply Royal Ordnance with the DU they use to make ammunition, tells us that for each gram of DU, there is 0.000 000 000 005 2 grams of plutonium 238 and 0.000 000 001 2 grams of plutonium 239/240. The activity contribution of the three naturally occurring uranium isotopes in 1 gram of DU is 14,818 becquerels. The plutonium contributes an extra 6.14 becquerels, or 0.04 per cent. of the radiation of the naturally occurring uranium isotopes.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

363 c195-6W; 147744

Session

2000-01

Subjects

Ammunition Health hazards Radioactive materials Balkans Depleted uranium Plutonium

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk