Air Force can use uranium weapons

Monday, April 8, 2002 | 9:28 a.m.

Jet pilots training to destroy tanks at the Nellis Air Force Range will resume using a limited number of depleted uranium rounds to test cannon accuracy, Air Force officials said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raised objections in 1993 about low-level radioactive fragments contaminating the environment, and military officials stopped using the armor-piercing projectiles fired by A-10 Thunderbolt jets at the Nellis range.

The ammunition had been used during the Gulf War and after 1993 in combat missions in Yugoslavia and other areas.

Depleted uranium was suspected of causing medical problems in people near combat zones. The World Health Organization, however, reported no firm medical evidence linking symptoms in Kosovo to depleted uranium exposure.

An Air Force environmental assessment issued in 1998 said there would be no significant impact on human health or the environment from depleted uranium fragments. The RAND research organization also said there was no significant risk.

The Fish and Wildlife Service and the Air Force have signed an agreement on the use of depleted uranium. The Air Force will initiate a management and monitoring plan for the heavy metal, which is 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium and can be handled safely with bare hands, Air Force officials said.

The plan includes monitoring, air and soil sampling, clearing and disposing of depleted uranium rounds and targets.