THE United Nations team monitoring radiation in Kosovo gave warning yesterday that material from depleted uranium ammunition had affected the groundwater, raising fears of similar contamination in Britain. The Ministry of Defence was under pressure last night to review its position on depleted uranium ammunition after The Telegraph revealed that such rounds had been used at a number of British training grounds. The ministry said depleted uranium rounds had been fired into the sea at the Kirkcudbright test range on the Solway Firth and at targets on land at Eskmeals, Cumbria. Initial inquiries suggested no depleted uranium rounds had been fired at Lulworth, Dorset, but the MoD was not yet able to rule this out. But Pekka Haavisto, the former Finnish environment minister who heads the UN Environment Programme team in Kosovo, said the water supply there was thought to be contaminated.
Much ammunition is deep in the ground and affects the groundwater.
He and his team have tested a sample 11 sites of 112 named by Nato as having been attacked with depleted uranium rounds and had found significantly increased radiation at eight of them. We were surprised to find this a year and a half later. There were cows grazing in contaminated areas, which means the contaminated dust can get into the milk. The New York Times reported yesterday that an American Department of Transportation warning on the use of depleted uranium appeared to conflict with Pentagon research that concluded there was little risk. Depleted uranium is used to provide balance in some aircraft and the Department of Transportation has issued a strong warning to personnel who might be called on to handle it.