The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossidenied today that Western ammunition with depleted uranium poses a “radiological danger” for Ukraine, as denounced by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
“That weaponry does not carry a radiological hazard”, Grossi told the press upon arrival at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhyaoccupied for a year by Russian troops, according to the Interfax agency.
However, he assured that, as IAEA directorcan neither support nor reject the supply of such shells to the Ukrainian army by the United Kingdom.
“Undoubtedly, like all I want the war to end as soon as possible“, he claimed. The IAEA director also said that he was working on a plan to ensure the safety of the depot plant. Zaporizhzhya, the largest in Europe. “I am trying to prepare and propose realistic measures that will be approved by all parties,” Grossi said. “We have to avoid a catastrophe. I am optimistic and I believe that this is possible”.
Last week Putin assured that the depleted uranium ammunition was a danger to the environment and to the Ukrainians themselves, and warned that Moscow would be forced to react if Ukraine uses weapons with “nuclear component”.
In addition, he used it as an excuse to announce on Saturday the agreement with Belarus for the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons on their territory, for which the Russians are building a silo that will be finished in July.
The British Ministry of Defense accused Moscow to “disinform” for saying that depleted uranium ammunition has a “nuclear component”.
A spokesman for this ministry pointed out that “the British Army has used depleted uranium in its armor-piercing projectiles for decades” and “it is a standard component and has nothing to do with nuclear weapons or capabilities.”
What is depleted uranium
It is a by-product of the process of creating the rarer enriched uranium, which is used in fuel and atomic weapons. Although much less powerful than enriched uranium and incapable of generating a nuclear reaction, depleted uranium is extremely dense—1.7 times denser than lead—a quality that makes it highly prized as a projectile capable of penetrating armor and steel.
When fired, a DU round becomes “essentially an exotic metal dart fired at an extraordinarily high velocity,” he explained to PA Scott Boston, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation research center.
In the 1970s, the US military began making armor-piercing rounds with depleted uranium and has since added it to the composite armor of their tanks to reinforce them. It has also added depleted uranium to munitions fired by an aircraft known as the tank killer: the Close Air Support Aircraft. A-10 of the Air Force. The US military is still developing munitions that use depleted uranium, particularly M829A4 armor-piercing projectile for its key M1A2 Abrams battle tank, Boston notes.
Depleted uranium ammunition was used in the gulf war of 1991 against the Iraqi T-72 tanks and again in the invasion of the country in 2003, as well as in Serbian and in Kosovo. US military veterans of those conflicts have questioned whether its use led to the ailments they now face.
(With information from EFE and AP)
Keep reading:
The head of the UN nuclear agency visited the Zaporizhzhia power plant: “We have to avoid a catastrophe”
Putin announced the deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus, on the border with Ukraine, and threatened to use depleted uranium shells
Source-www.infobae.com