Detection of the ultimate content of uranium of depleted ammunition in different materials

Abstract

The goal of this work was to determine the ultimate detectable content of uranium arising from depleted uranium ammunition in different natural materials, namely, soil, gravel, wood by γ-spectrometry. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report has confirmed following findings: (a) it is not possible to detect uranium-containing ammunition by any available instrument in the soil deeper than 40 cm; (b) the scintillation detector MC PHAR, due to its high sensitivity (above 80 keV), is considered to be the ideal detector for low energy γ-irradiation, which is characteristic for depleted uranium.

Keywords

• depleted uranium
• uranium ammmunition
• γ-spectrometry