Determination of uranium contents in the soils

Institute of Food Technology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Belgrade-Zemun (1)
Institute of Occupational and Radiological Health “Dr Dragomir Krajović”, Belgrade (2,3)

Abstract:

The usage of depleted uranium munitions was only indirectly forbidden (by General convention which is against environmental pollution) up to its mass application in the last decade of XX century (Iraq, Bosnia, Yugoslavia). The United Nations are on the good way of putting the depleted uranium to the list of forbidden weapons. Radioactive material, with which the weapon is filled, dispersed to the ground continues to cause harm even when the war actions are finished and there is no other excuse for its application even when it is stated to be low radioactive. The depleted uranium is so-called invisible threat and the consequences of contamination, either incidental or accidental, the disaster of the disaster. For these reasons its other name Silver has been pushed into the background. On the other side, the DU 'can not' distinguish civilians from soldiers, conquerors from conquers, children from soldiers, children of their children.... and for that its name has been changed to Deadly Bullet. Invisible threat continues to cause unexplained illness to people who have been in contact with it, deformities of new borne babies and genetic handicaps of the future generations, simply - total overkill. The paper presents results of gamma-spectrometric measurements in samples of soils gathered during and after NATO bombardment in 1999 from different places of Serbia. The aim of investigation was to establish a possible soil contamination by depleted uranium. Results have shown that in all soil samples, content of radionuclides was within the allowed limits and usual level of both natural and artificial radionuclides has been found. Measurements so far do show that presence of natural radionuclides in the sample of soil and sediment (ratio 238U/235U) was normal. Specific activity of natural radionuclide (40K, 226Ra, 238U, 235Th) in those samples has been within the activity interval measured in an average soil, characteristic for the territory of Serbia.

(580.48 KB)