Russian scientists told about the formation of a carcinogenic cloud during the explosion of shells with depleted uranium
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An explosion in the Ukrainian city of Khmelnitsky caused panic among the local population – children are being taken out of the city, adults have devastated pharmacies, buying up drugs with iodine. They say that the warehouse could have been delivered to Ukraine by Britain shells with depleted uranium-238. We discussed the risks that local residents of Khmelnitsky, Ternopil and Lviv may be exposed to with Russian scientists.
So, in Khmelnytsky, which is located 380 kilometers west of Kyiv, the Russian Aerospace Forces hit the warehouses of the Kation enterprise, where, apparently, the brought depleted uranium ammunition was stored.
A huge cloud, very reminiscent of the same nuclear “mushroom”, on the night of May 13, very much frightened the inhabitants of Khmelnitsky, as well as those who live to the west of it, in Ternopil and Lvov. The panic was fueled by local politicians. The phrases they heard about “uranium dust causing terrible diseases” and calls to “urgently take children to grandparents” had an effect no worse than those same shells.
The radiation background after the explosion at the warehouse really “jumped” significantly: according to the SaveEcoBot portal, where a map of the radiation background in Ukraine is posted, on the night of May 13, a jump in the radiation level was recorded in Khmelnytsky from 80-100 to 140-160 nanosieverts per hour.
About how dangerous this could be for the population, we asked Vyacheslav Shurshakov, a specialist in radiation safety, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, head of a department at the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
– The announced data (up to 160 nanosieverts) is the level of radiation, which is within the normal range, – says Vyacheslav Alexandrovich. – I will clarify that the background level is 0.1 microsievert per hour, which corresponds to 100 nanosieverts per hour. That is, the fixed level is quite acceptable. In particular, 200 nanosieverts per hour are quite acceptable for the premises.
– Starting from what figure, the level of radiation can be considered dangerous for the population?
– If the background is exceeded at least five times.
– What is uranium-238? What precautions should be taken when handling it?
“You shouldn’t put such uranium in tea, you should touch it with your bare hands.” It is only used in projectiles to pierce armor because it is denser than lead.
For example, if a piece of such uranium lies on the field, you will not find it even with a dosimeter, because it will emit at the background level. This is about the radiation hazard. However, with regard to the risk during its explosion, there arises another danger, which is largely associated with the chemical properties of uranium.
According to Valery Menshchikov, a Soviet and Russian specialist in the safety of nuclear energy, a member of the Council of the Center for Environmental Policy of Russia, the main danger of shells with depleted uranium, indeed, arises precisely during its explosion:
“A high temperature is created and part of this uranium core melts and passes into a certain gas form,” Menshchikov explains. – It is this cloud that is very carcinogenic.
The world learned about this after NATO used “uranium” shells in Serbia (formerly Yugoslavia). Then, for 10-15 years after the bombings of 1999, children were born there with serious genetic diseases and high mortality from oncology was recorded. All this was caused precisely by uranium carcinogens, which polluted the Yugoslav lands and rivers.
Everything is complicated by the fact that the half-life of these elements is very long, and in order to arrange a high-quality further human habitation in these territories, it is necessary, at a minimum, to dispose of the soil layer.
Russia has always opposed the use of depleted uranium projectiles during wars, but, unfortunately, neither the IAEA nor the WHO has yet made the same demand, despite the glaring facts of the Serbian tragedy.
The most skeptical doctors after the tragedy noted that in order to notice the increase in cancer associated with the NATO bombing, 20 years should pass. A little more has passed, but there were no serious scientific articles, and no.
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