Depleted uranium has wreaked havoc on health in Iraq
The US and UK militaries have sent mixed signals about the effects of depleted uranium, but Iraqi doctors like Alwachi and Alani, and along with researchers, blame the increasing cancer and birth defect rates on the weapon.
Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of Uranium in Iraq, has been researching the effects of depleted uranium on Iraqis since 1991. He told Al Jazeera he personally measured radiation levels in the city of Kerbala, as well as in Basra, and his Geiger counter was “screaming” because “the indicator went beyond the range”.
Fallujah babies: Under a new kind of siege, Doctors and residents blame US weapons for catastrophic levels of birth defects in Fallujah’s newborns, Al Jazeera, Dahr Jamail 06 Jan 2012 Fallujah, Iraq - While the US military has formally withdrawn from Iraq, doctors and residents of Fallujah are blaming weapons like depleted uranium and white phosphorous used during two devastating US attacks on Fallujah in 2004 for what are being described as “catastrophic” levels of birth defects and abnormalities.
Dr Samira Alani, a paediatric specialist at Fallujah General Hospital, has taken a personal interest in investigating an explosion of congenital abnormalities that have mushroomed in the wake of the US sieges since 2005. ”We have all kinds of defects now, ranging from congenital heart disease to severe physical abnormalities, both in numbers you cannot imagine,” Alani told Al Jazeera at her office in the hospital, while showing countless photos of shocking birth defects.
As of December 21, Alani, who has worked at the hospital since 1997, told Al Jazeera she had personally logged 677 cases of birth defects since October 2009. Just eight days later when Al Jazeera visited the city on December 29, that number had already risen to 699. Read more »
North Korea developing uranium tipped missiles
North Korea closer to nuclear-tipped missile: US expert Business Recorder DECEMBER 29, 2011 North Korea likely is closer to mounting nuclear warheads on its ballistic missiles than generally reported, possibly only one or two years away, the US Congress’s former top expert on the issue has concluded.
Larry Niksch, who tracked North Korea for the non-partisan US Congressional Research Service for 43 years, concludes in a new paper that the North probably would need as little as one to two years to miniaturise and mount a nuclear warhead atop its medium-range Nodong
missile once it has produced enough highly enriched uranium as the warhead’s core fuel.
A North Korea armed with nuclear-tipped missiles would rattle East Asia and present new policy and military challenges to the United States and its allies….. Its nuclear and missile capabilities are once again in the spotlight as power passes to North Korea’s designated young leader, Kim Jong-un, after the December 17 death of his father, Kim Jong-il.
Pyongyang already may have produced enough highly enriched uranium (HEU) for a warhead or be close to doing so, Niksch and experts such as Siegfried Hecker, the former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, said in interviews with Reuters….. http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/single/599/172/1265893/
U.S. army and depleted uranium
Gulf War Syndrome and the Army’s Depleted Uranium Training Videos, Motherboard by DerekMead , Nov 12, 2011 Depleted uranium, a bi-product of enriched uranium that was used in American munitions, was the focus of military preparations before the war. We dug up some old Army videos for “Depleted Uranium General Awareness Training” that shows just how under-prepared soldiers may have been to the hazards of this potentially pretty nasty stuff. Read more »
Canadian authorities turned blind eye to depleted uranium affected soldiers
Gulf War vets wounded and angry,CNews By Kris Sims, Parliamentary Bureau, 10 Nov 11 OTTAWA — All of Louise Richard’s hair fell out after she came home from the Gulf War. ”Ninety-five percent of the casualties we dealt with were Iraqi prisoners of war,” the former army nurse said. “They were obviously totally contaminated with depleted uranium, they had shrapnel, we operated on them, so here we were — hands in guts and breathing all of these things.”Scotland’s opposition to depleted uranium weapons testing
The Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, Katy Clark, said she would be concerned if DU tests resumed. “There remain health concerns about these weapons and we should be concentrating on getting an international ban on their production and use,” she said.
Anger as depleted uranium shells to be test-fired again Depleted uranium shells are blamed for causing radioactive and heavy metal pollution and are used by Challenger tanks, HERALD SCOTLAND EXCLUSIVE BY ROB EDWARDS ENVIRONMENT EDITOR, 6 Nov 2011 HIGHLY controversial depleted uranium shells are set to be test-fired in Scotland again, the Sunday Herald has learned. Read more »
Canadian army never told soldier about his depleted uranium test results
The 2001 lab results, copies of which were supplied to The Canadian Press by Lacoste, were performed two years before tests conducted by a civilian doctor also found high levels of uranium in his hair.
Lacoste’s fight is also directed at helping other ex-soldiers he believes might be suffering from the health effects of depleted-uranium exposure, but might not even be aware of it.
Hunger-striking vet says Ottawa never disclosed his positive uranium tests, Winnipeg Free Press, By: Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press, 11/2/2011 MONTREAL – A former soldier battling a series of health problems says the Canadian Forces failed to inform him that medical tests showed he was carrying an unusually high level of uranium.
Pascal Lacoste eventually filed a request under the Access to Information Act to see his own medical files, which revealed his hair samples contained “abnormally elevated” amounts of the metal. Read more »
Cry from soldier, unrecognised victim of depleted uranium radiation
Depleted uranium, used in some types of ammunition and military armour, is the dense, low-cost leftover once uranium has been processed….
A high-ranking official from Veterans Affairs says a handful of vets mistakenly believe their bodies have been damaged by depleted uranium…..
the Federal Court of Canada has found depleted uranium to be an issue. The court ruled the Veterans Affairs Department must compensate retired serviceman Steve Dornan for a cancer his doctors say resulted from exposure to depleted uranium residue.
Poisoned soldier plans hunger strike at minister’s office in exchange for care, Montreal CTV.ca Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press, 30 Oct 11, MONTREAL — An ex-soldier who says he was poisoned while serving overseas is planning to go on a hunger strike outside the office of Canada’s veterans affairs minister until he gets medical treatment.
Plight of Canada’s veterans with cancer from depleted uranium
All efforts to get adapted care for his condition lead no where since Veterans Affairs do not acknowledge depleted uranium poisoning.
Ex Canadian Forces Soldier To Go On Hunger Strike To Protest Against Depleted Uranium Exposure October 2, 2011, Ottawa Citizen Sylvain Bouchard: On November 5th 2011, Pascal Lacoste, an ex-soldier in the Canadian Armed Forces and a very good friend of mine, will go on a hunger strike in front of Steven Blaney’s office at Lévis-Bellechasse 115, route Kennedy, 101 Lévis (Québec) G6V 6C8 Canada.
After 12 years of fighting with the Canadian government to acknowledge that he and other members of the Canadian Forces have been poisoned with depleted uranium while on duty, he no longer sees any alternative than to go out on his terms, go out fighting. Read more »
Court rules compensation for soldier exposed to depleted uranium
DEPLETED URANIUM CONTINUES TO CLAIM VICTIMS, 14 AUGUST 2011 VOICE OF RUSIA Kosovo, (Pal Telegraph) – A court in Cagliari in Italy has ruled that the Ministry of Defence must pay a half million euros in compensation to the family of a soldier who died from exposure to depleted uranium in NATO bombs that were dropped on Kosovo.
Depleted uranium is used in rockets and bombs for increasing their piercing capacity. It is slightly radioactive and highly toxic. The first Italian death from exposure to it was reported in 2001.
NATO widely used DU munitions during its 1990s campaigns in Kosovo and Bosnia.http://www.paltelegraph.com/world/world-news/9844-depleted-uranium-continues-to-claim-victims.html
Depleted uranium and other nasty secrets about Libya battle
There have been reports of depleted uranium, cluster bombs and other illegal substances in the capital city Tripoli, despite NATOs denial of depleted uranium used in its humanitarian efforts in Libya. ……..The American people are not told the truth about what happens in the Middle East, we are not told the truth about all these wars.
West uses depleted uranium in Libya, Press TV Jun 5, 2011 Interview with Randy Short, a human rights activist in TripoliThere is a “significant difference” between what is being covered on the Libyan intervention by Western media outlets and what is happening in the North African country, human right activist says. Read more »
Thousands of kilos of depleted uranium to SAVE Libyans?
The use of D.U. constitutes a war crime and crime against humanity, just as poison gas and dumdum bullets were designated in their time. The Libyan people are the latest victims of this western inflicted plague.
Irradiate the Libyan people to save the Libyan people? How else could you describe the NATO attack on Libya?
Depleted Uranium Used In Libya, Mathaba, By Thomas C. Mountain 15 April, 2011 NATO aircraft are routinely equipped with anti-armor missiles fitted with depleted uranium war heads. It has been widely reported that NATO has fired hundreds of anti-armor missiles in many parts of Libya, including in the immediate environs of the Libyan capital Tripoli. This means that thousands of kilos of depleted uranium have been used in Libya in the past weeks. Read more »
Depleted Uranium and veterans’ Gulf War Syndrome
In 1999 doctors from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas presented the results of brain scans performed on victims of the [Gulf War] syndrome showing depleted brain cells in three areas of their brains.
Nuclear War in the Mideast , Subversify, By karlsie, April 22, 2011 “………Depleted uranium weapons were liberally used during the Persian Gulf War, during the bombings by NATO and the United Nations over the Serbian Republic of Bosnia in September 1995, against Yugoslavia in spring of 1999; in this century, during the attack on Afghanistan and then further in Iraq in 2003.
Their effects have been largely minimized by the deploying governments and the media, but the effects have long-ranging and devastating consequences…… Read more »
The Hazards of Depleted Uranium Artillery
In April of 1991, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority described the potential problems of radioactive dust spreading over the battlefields and getting into the food chain and the water. At that time it warned that forty tons of radioactive debris left from DU weapons could cause over five hundred thousand deaths. The amount of radioactive debris left behind in the Gulf War is over three hundred tons.
Nuclear War in the Mideast , Subversify, By karlsie April 22, 2011 ”…..The Hazards of Depleted Uranium Artillery Depleted uranium artillery projectiles are favored by the military as they are shelf sharpening, penetrate deeply into their target and are pyrophoric. When a DU penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle, it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew, and possibly causing the vehicle to explode. When a DU projectile explodes, it leaves behind a dust that is both toxic and radioactive. Read more »
Grave danger of depleted uranium weapons used on Libya
“We are saturating the ground with Depleted Uranium ammunition ……we are subjecting civilians of Libya to a far greater danger in the long run than they currently face from the civil war that’s going on.”…
AUDIO PressTV – US heavily dependent on use of Depleted Uranium , PressTV, 14 April 11, NATO continues to deny the use of depleted uranium in its humanitarian efforts in Libya. Conn Hallinan, Columnist for Foreign Policy in Focus, spoke to Press TV’s U.S. Desk on Thursday regarding the continued use of Depleted Uranium ammunition. “I think you have a situation now where the United States and Britain and France, being the major countries involved here are basically claiming that they are engaged in the Libyan Civil War in order to protect the civilians. Unfortunately, what is happening is that in the process of attacking Muammar Gaddafi’s military forces, particularly his tanks and armor and artillery the U.S. is heavily dependent on the use of Depleted Uranium Munitions,” Hallinan said. Read more »
Using up USA’s depleted uranium – for weapons in Libya
given the amount of depleted uranium in the hands of the US—one of the few countries that has refused to sign on to the UN’s Human Rights Commission’ ban on the element—we’re going to only further saturate foreign battlefields with the toxic metal in years to come.
NATO using depleted uranium in Libya RT, 13 April, 2011, Conn Hallinan is a columnist with Foreign Policy in Focus and says that, after examining the impact wounds left on tanks in Libya, he is almost certain that depleted uranium is being utilized. “Politically, it’s a bad idea. Medically, it’s an extremely bad idea. It’s just one of those things that’s an effective weapon that you have to step away from,” says Hallinan, who attests that, while the element is both affordable and powerful, “It’s just a very, very bad idea.” Read more »
1 THIS MONTH
Uranium mining in Namibia http://namibian.me/group/canwin2?commentId=4103091%3AComment%3A47391&xg_source=msg_com_group
Nuclear industry is moribund, despite 2 new reactors licensed in USA http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3428147.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3413882.htm Is the world facing a groundwater crisis?
of the week http://climaterealityproject.org/thin-ice/
and another WEBSITE : - New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution http://www.necnp.org/
EVENT
February 18 Hindsdale, Chicago American Association of University Women - nuclear disaster preparedness H.OB.aauw.reservations@gmail.com.
March 2012 is “March Against Nuclear Madness” and Beyond Nuclear has created a new March Against Nuclear Madness Facebook page.
March 8th & 9th – Cape Town, South Africa - The Global Conference: Nuclear Power For Africa? http://koebergalert.org/npfree/
May 31 USA - Portland, Maine, Bonnie Raitt benefit concert for New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution
Nuclear power and water – theme for February 2012
FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR PLANT and WATER – present state
That nuclear core is in direct contact with tons of water. And that containment, while not leaking down, is leaking out the sides. That contaminated water is going into every other building on site. And there is literally thousands and thousands of tons of water in other buildings. That water contains radioactive cesium, radioactive strontium, and it also contains nuclear fuel. There will be uranium in that water and plutonium in that water as well. We know for sure that that water is leaking into the ground water and into the Pacific Ocean. So while it is important to know that we are not going to release the nuclear core directly into the center of the earth, the problem is not over. And as a matter of fact, the problem will last for tens, perhaps even as long as 30 years because this contaminated water is in the basements of all the buildings on site. And not only does it contain cesium (that hangs around for 300 years), strontium (hangs around for 300 years), but it also contains plutonium and uranium and they have half lives of tens of thousands of years.
So the problem is, what do we do with all that water that is contaminated? It is already leaking into the groundwater. It is already leaking into the ocean. TEPCO is frantically catching it and putting it into tanks. But just today, TEPCO announced that they are running out of tank space on site, and eventually they are going to have to release those tanks into the Pacific Ocean. Now they will try to clean up some of the isotopes like cesium. But they have been unable to capture all the strontium. Strontium is a bone seeker that causes leukemia… http://fairewinds.com/content/fukushima-could-it-have-china-syndrome
NUCLEAR REACTORS - WATER USE : Per megawatt existing nuclear power stations use and consume more water than power stations using other fuel sources. Depending on the cooling technology utilised, the water requirements for a nuclear power station can vary between 20 to 83 per cent more than for other power stations.”- Dep of Parliamentary Services research note, 4 December 2006, no. 12, 2006–07, ISSN 1449-8456 Water consumption figures:
Nuclear: 2.3 L/ kWh
Solar (PV): 0.110 L/ kWh
Wind: 0.004 L/ kWh
(American Wind Energy Association estimate & US DOE)
A typical 1000-megawatt pressurized-water reactor (with a cooling tower) takes in 20,000 gallons of river, lake or ocean water per minute for cooling, circulates it through a 50-mile maze of pipes, returns 5,000 gallons per minute to the same body of water, and releases the remainder to the atmosphere as vapor. A 1000-megawatt reactor without a cooling tower takes in even more water–as much as one-half million gallons per minute. The discharge water is contaminated with radioactive elements in amounts that are not precisely known or knowable, but are biologically active.
Some radioactive fission gases, stripped from the reactor cooling water, are contained in decay tanks for days before being released into the atmosphere through filtered rooftop vents. Some gases leak into the power plant buildings’ interiors and are released during periodic “purges” and “ventings.” These airborne gases contaminate not only the air, but also soil and water. http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/routineradioactivereleases.htm
NUCLEAR REACTORS -IONISING RADIATION to GROUNDWATER In USA the nuclear industry has contaminated groundwater with radioactive tritium at nuclear power plant sites all across the country. Nuclear plants that have admitted leaking tritium into the groundwater include:
- Braidwood, Byron, Dresden and Quad Cities in Illinois;
- Indian Point and Fitzpatrick in New York;
- Yankee Rowe and Pilgrim in Massachusetts;
- Three Mile Island and Peach Bottom in Pennsylvania;
- Callaway in Missouri
- Catawba in South Carolina
- Oyster Creek in New Jersey
- Hatch in Georgia
- Palo Verde In Arizona
- Perry in Ohio
- Palisades in Michigan
- Point Beach in Wisconsin
- Salem in Delaware
- San Onofre in California
- Seabrook in New Hampshire
- Shearon Harris in North Carolina
- Watts Bar in Tennessee
- Wolf Creek in Kansas
- Connecticut Yankee in Connecticut
- Vermont Yankee in Vermont
URANIUM MINING – OPEN CUT or UNDERGROUND It is very difficult to find figures on the amounts of water used. All mining is water intensive, but uranium mining is the greatest guzzler Water is extensively used to suppress airborne dust levels, to try to reduce the radioactive clouds that would otherwise emanate constantly from the uranium tailings.IN SITU LEACHING – Uranium Mining Process in-situ leaching uses a hydrogen peroxide mixture to strip the uranium from the rock, which kills tissue and destroys cells in human and animal life. The addition of oxygen and sodium bicarbonate called oxygenates causes uranium and other radioactive substances and trace metals to be liberated from the rock into the groundwater.
.. judges have too often taken the stance that they are judges who know nothing of the mining industry and accept the data of corporations, claiming the corporations are in the know.
..the water taken from the extremely pristine Westwater Canyon Aquifer near Crownpoint for uranium mining and used for flushing out chemicals would not be replaced in our lifetimes.
It takes hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, to transform aquifer water back into a drinkable condition. Virginia Against Uranium Mining: Scientists Back Navajos’ Uranium Mining Fight: Tribe fears contamination of drinking water
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