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Year:
2001
| Volume: 9
| Issue: 4
| Pages: 245-249
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Meeting Report |
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URANIUM CONTENT IN THE SOIL OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA AFTER NATO INTERVENTION
Nada R. MILJEVIC, Mirjana M. MARKOVIC, Dragana J. TODOROVIC, Mirjana R. CVIJOVIC, Dusan D. GOLOBOCANIN, Milan P. ORLiC, Dragan S. VESELINOVIC, Rade N. BIOCANIN |
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DOI:
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Abstract: |
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Depleted uranium (DU) is a by-product of the uranium enrichment process. NATO has used DU ammunition in the Yugoslav conflict, in air strikes of tanks and bunkers. An estimated number of about 3,000-10,000 of 30 mm DU rounds of armor-piercing shells were fired from cannons fitted to A-10 aircraft and probably used in some of the 1,500 launched Tomahawk Cruise missiles. We measured the uranium content in the surface soil (0-5 cm depth) from bomb craters after NATO strikes. The selected locations were Belgrade, Smederevo, Nis Bor, Prahovo, Kadinjaca, Jadovnik, Raska, Sjenica, and Cape Arza. The total uranium concentration and isotopic ratio were determined using g-spectrometry and the inductively coupled plasma method. The obtained values ranged from 21 to 762.000 Bq/kg of dry soil. At all locations, except Cape Arza, these values were comparable with the uranium content of soils measured at off-site locations. |
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Key words:
Uranium; Spectrometry, Gamma; Soil Pollutants, Radioactive; Radiation, Monitoring, Yugoslavia; War; Nuclear Warfare |
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