PRESS RELEASE
UNEP ASSESSMENT TEAM TO VISIT DEPLETED URANIUM SITES IN KOSOVO
03 November 2000 - The United Nations Environment Programme is
sending a team of experts to Kosovo to assess the impact of ordnance containing
depleted uranium (DU) used during last year’s Balkans conflict.
The team will arrive in Kosovo on 6 November and spend two weeks
visiting up to six selected sites. It will measure radioactivity levels
and take soil and water samples to test for the heavy metals that result
when DU breaks down.
The aim of the assessment will be to determine if there are health or
environmental risks now or in the future due to the use of DU during the
conflict, and to publish a report on the findings.
The team will include a total of about 12 experts from Finland, Italy,
and Switzerland; the Swedish Radiation Protection Institute; Bristol
University U.K.; the International Atomic Energy Agency; and UNEP.
Once the field assessments are complete, the various participating
institutions will conduct laboratory analyses during December. The final
report is expected to be available sometime in January. The assessment
work on depleted uranium is being financed by donors, Switzerland being
the main contributor.
The identification of the sites to be visited was made possible by data
supplied to the United Nations by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The sites chosen for measurement work are in the western part of Kosovo.
The field mission will be carried out in cooperation with UNMIK and
KFOR.
Note to journalists: For more information, please contact UNEP
spokesperson
Tore Brevik at +254-2-623292, email tore.brevik@unep.org;
or the Chairman of the DU Assessment Team, Pekka Haavisto on
+41-79-4770877. See also balkans@unep.ch.
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