Depleted uranium in Serbia and Montenegro. Post-conflict environmental assessment in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

This report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on the environmental impacts of depleted uranium (DU) is a direct follow-up to last year's report, Depleted Uranium in Kosovo - A Post-Conflict Assessment (2001), and once more brings additional scientific information on DU. This second phase has now been carried out in Serbia and Montenegro, starting with a field mission in October 2001 to collect samples, followed by laboratory work during the winter and the early spring. Our new study provides additional information and reveals important new discoveries on the environmental behaviour of DU. We learn that still, more than two years after the end of the conflict, particles of DU dust can be detected from soil samples and from sensitive bioindicators like lichen. However, as the levels were extremely low, it was only through the use of state-of-the-art laboratory analyses that detection could be achieved. Based on our findings, UNEP can confirm that contamination at the targeted sites is widespread, though no significant level of radioactivity can be measured. Furthermore, during this assessment the UNEP team used modern air sampling techniques and detected airborne DU particles at two sites. While all levels detected are still below international safety limits, these results add valuable new information to the scientific body of knowledge concerning the behaviour of DU and have important implications for site decontamination and construction works. During the mission to Serbia and Montenegro, a serious health concern potentially related to DU was presented to UNEP. This information was forwarded to WHO, as the competent United Nations agency on health issues. The original claim and the formal WHO response are included in this report. Based on our findings, our recommendations remain the same as those we outlined in the previous Kosovo DU study. Future monitoring is clearly needed, as well as awareness-raising for the local population. Clean-up and decontamination has already started in both Serbia and Montenegro, and detailed recommendations on these issues are given in this report