Depleted Uranium

Depleted Uranium (DU) is not found naturally. It is radioactive waste, produced as a result of enriching uranium for use in nuclear power plants or for the production of weapons. In natural uranium 0,7 % is fissionable, in enriched uranium 2- 3,5 % and in depleted uranium 0,2 %. This radioactive and chemical toxic waste should be kept in bunkers for billions of years, which requires stable and sustainable surroundings and an enormous amount of money. However, if one uses DU as contra weight in air-crafts, or in armour-piercing penetrators on the battle-field, one can make money with it. This happened first in Iraq and later on the Balkans in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Military use of DU is profitable for the arms industry, but no solution to the nuclear waste problem. In Iraq, that was first targeted in 1991, 70 % of the soil is now polluted with invisible DU dust. Once inhaled or swallowed, DU is a permanent threat to people’s health and that of new generations. Military veterans and civilians alike have given birth to baby’s with monstrous malformations. Not only in Iraq but also on the Balkans and wherever DU was used, young children die from leukaemia and lymphomas. They are ten times more sensitive than adults to radiation. Foetuses are even fifteen times more sensitive.