Environmental pollution with radionuclides, particularly uranium and its
decay products is a serious global problem. The current scientific studies
estimated that the contamination originating from ...TENORM, caused by nuclear
and non-nuclear technologies, has significantly increased natural level of
radioactivity in the last thirty years. During the last decades all the more
were talking about the "new pollutant" - depleted uranium (DU), which has
been used in anti-tank penetrators because of its high density, penetration
and pyrophoric properties. It is estimated that during the Gulf War, the war
in Bosnia and Yugoslavia and during the invasion of Iraq, 1.4 million
missiles with depleted uranium was fired. During the NATO aggression against
the ex Yugoslavia in 1999., 112 locations in Kosovo and Metohija, 12
locations in southern Serbia and two locations in Montenegro were bombed. On
this occasion, approximately 10 tons of depleted uranium were entered into
the environment, mainly on land, where the degree of contamination ranged
from 200 Bq / kg to 235 000 Bq/kg, which is up to 1000 times higher than the
natural level. Fourteen years ago there was very little information about
the behavior of ecological systems damaged by DU penetrators fired. Today,
unfortunately, we are increasingly faced with the ?invisible threat" of
depleted uranium, which has a strong radioactive and hemotoxic impact on
human health. Present paper provides a detailed overview of the current
understanding of corrosion and corrosion behavior of DU and environmental
factors that control corrosion, together with indicators of environmental
impact in order to highlight areas that need further attention in developing
remediation programs.
nema
Environmental pollution with radionuclides, particularly uranium and its decay products is a serious global problem. The current scientific studies estimated that the contamination originating from ...TENORM, caused by nuclear and non-nuclear technologies, has significantly increased natural level of radioactivity in the last thirty years. During the last decades all the more were talking about the "new pollutant"--depleted uranium (DU), which has been used in anti-tank penetrators because of its high density, penetration and pyrophoric properties. It is estimated that during the Gulf War, the war in Bosnia and Yugoslavia and during the invasion of Iraq, 1.4 million missiles with depleted uranium was fired. During the NATO aggression against the ex Yugoslavia in 1999, 112 locations in Kosovo and Metohija, 12 locations in southern Serbia and two locations in Montenegro were bombed. On this occasion, approximately 10 tons of depleted uranium were entered into the environment, mainly on land, where the degree of contamination ranged from 200 to 235000 Bq/kg, which is up to 1000 times higher than the natural level. Fourteen years ago there was very little information about the behavior of ecological systems damaged by DU penetrators fired. Today, unfortunately, we are increasingly faced with the "invisible threat" of depleted uranium, which has a strong radioactive and hemotoxic impact on human health. Present paper provides a detailed overview of the current understanding of corrosion and corrosion behavior of DU and environmental factors that control corrosion, together with indicators of environmental impact in order to highlight areas that need further attention in developing remediation programs. Keywords: Depleted uranium * Corrosion * Behavior * Environment Poslednjih decenija se sve vise govori o "new pollutant"--osiromasenom uranijumu (OU), koji se koristi u protivtenkovskim penetratorima zbog svoje velike gustine, prodornosti i pirofornih svojstava. Procenjuje se da je za vreme NATO agresije na bivsu Jugoslaviju 1999. god., priblizno 10 t osiromasenog uranijuma uneto u zivotnu sredinu, uglavnom na poljoprovredno zemljiste. U vreme tih desavanja je bilo vrlo malo dostupnih informacija o ponasanju ekoloskih sistema narusenih ostacima penetratorima sa OU. Danas, nakon cetrnaest godina, sve vise se susrecemo sa "nevidljivom pretnjom" upotrebe municije sa OU, koji ima snazan radioaktivni i hemotoksicni uticaj na ljudsko zdravlje. Ovaj rad pruza pregled korozionog i ekoloskog ponasanja OU, zajedno sa indikatorima uticaja na zivotnu sredinu, sa ciljem da se istaknu oblasti koje zahtevaju dodatnu paznju u izradi remedijacionih programa. Kljucne reci: osiromaseni uranijum, korozija, ponasanje, zivotna sredina. Dostupno na Internetu sa adrese casopisa:
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