Engineering solution for Radioactive Waste in IRAQ

Depleted uranium (DU) is a by-product of the enrichment of natural uranium for nuclear reactor-grade or nuclear weapons-grade uranium. DU is chemically identical to natural uranium. Depleted uranium is chemically identical to natural uranium. DU is depleted with isotope of U235 and its radioactivity is 60% of the natural uranium and increases to 80% after few months and is usually considered as low level radioactive waste (LLW).Iraq experienced two devastating wars in 1991 and 2003, during which massive amounts of new weapons and sophisticated manufactured nuclear weapons were used -called Depleted Uranium (DU).During the second Gulf war in 2003 U.S. and British troops have reportedly used more than five times as many DU bombs and shells as the total number used during the 1991 war for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. It was estimated that more than 1100 to 2200 tons of DU was used. As a consequence the ruminants of wars are affecting the people (30 million) and environment. There are hundreds of sites contaminated with nuclear radiation.There is no Iraqi strategy and/or national program, not even well thought out plans and scientific personnel and technical equipment required to clean Iraq of these wastes. The aim of this work is to high light the environmental implications of the two Gulf wars on Iraq and suggest possible solutions to the problem.Validerad; 2014; 20140306 (nadhir