MOSCOW. April 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian ecologists think that military operations of the U.S. and American-British troops in the vicinity of Baghdad might lead to the destruction of a huge radioactive waste depot.
"Clashes between the Iraqi troops and coalition forces near Baghdad might result in the destruction of a huge Iraqi radioactive waste depot located in the town of Al Tuveis 17km southeast of Baghdad," a military ecologist told Interfax- Military News Agency on Thursday.
According to him, the depot contains 670t of normal uranium as well as a huge amount of low-activity industrial waste.
"The main coalition forces are approaching from the south- east and inflicting powerful missile and bomb strikes, including by Tomahawk missiles. This missile contains a 3kg uranium core, and if it hits the depot, consequences might be extremely dangerous," the ecologist said.
"In particular, emission of uranium in the atmosphere along with products of burning, sand and dust might lead to radioactive pollution of an area of 120-130 square kilometers," he noted.
"Moreover, subsequent migrations of radioactive atmosphere flows are possible, and their destination and range of spread are hard to be foreseen due to powerful and frequent sand storms in the region," the ecologist added.