The environmental implications of depleted uranium in Iraq and the principles of isolating it

Waste Managementand the Environment VII

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SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ONWASTE MANAGEMENT AND THE ENVIRONMENT

CONFERENCE CHAIRMEN

C. A. BrebbiaWessex Institute of Technology, UK

G. PasseriniUniversità Politecnica delle Marche, Italy

H. ItohUniversity of Nagoya, Japan

INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Organised byWessex Institute of Technology, UK

Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy

Sponsored byWIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment

International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning

WASTE MANAGEMENT VII

P. BritoT. Chen

P. de FilippisM. Dubois

J. Gonzalez-AlvarezM. Lega

A. OliveiraJ.B. ParkV. PopovR. PuschE.C. RadaR. SjoblomF. Tatano

M-P. Zacharof

B Abersek University of Maribor, SloveniaY N Abousleiman University of Oklahoma,

USAK S Al Jabri Sultan Qaboos University,

OmanE Alarcon Universidad Politecnica de

Madrid, SpainC Alessandri Universita di Ferrara, ItalyD Almorza Gomar University of Cadiz,

SpainB Alzahabi Kettering University, USAJ A C Ambrosio IDMEC, PortugalA M Amer Cairo University, EgyptS A Anagnostopoulos University of

Patras, GreeceM Andretta Montecatini, ItalyE Angelino A.R.P.A. Lombardia, ItalyH Antes Technische Universitat

Braunschweig, GermanyM A Atherton South Bank University, UKA G Atkins University of Reading, UKD Aubry Ecole Centrale de Paris, FranceJ Augutis Vytautas Magnus University,

LithuaniaH Azegami Toyohashi University of

Technology, JapanA F M Azevedo University of Porto,

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Thessaloniki, GreeceA Bejan Duke University, USAM P Bekakos Democritus University of

Thrace, Greece

G Belingardi Politecnico di Torino, ItalyR Belmans Katholieke Universiteit

Leuven, BelgiumC D Bertram The University of New

South Wales, AustraliaD E Beskos University of Patras, GreeceS K Bhattacharyya Indian Institute of

Technology, IndiaE Blums Latvian Academy of Sciences,

LatviaJ Boarder Cartref Consulting Systems,

UKB Bobee Institut National de la Recherche

Scientifique, CanadaH Boileau ESIGEC, FranceM Bonnet Ecole Polytechnique, FranceC A Borrego University of Aveiro,

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M B Bush The University of Western Australia, Australia

F Butera Politecnico di Milano, ItalyW Cantwell Liverpool University, UKD J Cartwright Bucknell University, USAP G Carydis National Technical University

of Athens, GreeceJ J Casares Long Universidad de

Santiago de Compostela, SpainM A Celia Princeton University, USAA Chakrabarti Indian Institute of Science,

India

WIT Transactions

Transactions Editor

Carlos BrebbiaWessex Institute of Technology

Ashurst Lodge, AshurstSouthampton SO40 7AA, UK

Editorial Board

J-T Chen National Taiwan Ocean University, Taiwan

A H-D Cheng University of Mississippi, USA

J Chilton University of Lincoln, UKC-L Chiu University of Pittsburgh, USAH Choi Kangnung National University,

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J Jaafar UiTm, MalaysiaW Jager Technical University of Dresden,

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Technology, USAH Kawashima The University of Tokyo,

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Ltd, UKE Kita Nagoya University, JapanA S Kobayashi University of Washington,

USAT Kobayashi University of Tokyo, JapanD Koga Saga University, JapanS Kotake University of Tokyo, JapanA N Kounadis National Technical

University of Athens, GreeceW B Kratzig Ruhr Universitat Bochum,

GermanyT Krauthammer Penn State University,

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Science and Technology, NorwayB S Larsen Technical University of

Denmark, Denmark

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Location Analysis, SwedenT Lyons Murdoch University, AustraliaY-W Mai University of Sydney, AustraliaM Majowiecki University of Bologna, ItalyD Malerba Università degli Studi di Bari,

ItalyG Manara University of Pisa, ItalyS Mambretti Politecnico di Milano, ItalyB N Mandal Indian Statistical Institute,

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N Milic-Frayling Microsoft Research Ltd, UK

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IrelandR O O’Neill Oak Ridge National

Laboratory, USAM Ohkusu Kyushu University, JapanG Oliveto Universitá di Catania, ItalyR Olsen Camp Dresser & McKee Inc.,

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Catalunya, SpainK Onishi Ibaraki University, JapanP H Oosthuizen Queens University,

CanadaE L Ortiz Imperial College London, UKE Outa Waseda University, JapanA S Papageorgiou Rensselaer Polytechnic

Institute, USAJ Park Seoul National University, KoreaG Passerini Universita delle Marche, ItalyF Patania University of Catania, ItalyB C Patten University of Georgia, USA

G Pelosi University of Florence, ItalyG G Penelis Aristotle University of

Thessaloniki, GreeceW Perrie Bedford Institute of

Oceanography, CanadaR Pietrabissa Politecnico di Milano, ItalyH Pina Instituto Superior Tecnico, PortugalM F Platzer Naval Postgraduate School,

USAD Poljak University of Split, CroatiaH Power University of Nottingham, UKD Prandle Proudman Oceanographic

Laboratory, UKM Predeleanu University Paris VI, FranceI S Putra Institute of Technology Bandung,

IndonesiaY A Pykh Russian Academy of Sciences,

RussiaF Rachidi EMC Group, SwitzerlandM Rahman Dalhousie University, CanadaK R Rajagopal Texas A & M University,

USAT Rang Tallinn Technical University,

EstoniaJ Rao Case Western Reserve University,

USAJ Ravnik University of Maribor, SloveniaA M Reinhorn State University of New

York at Buffalo, USAG Reniers Universiteit Antwerpen, BelgiumA D Rey McGill University, CanadaD N Riahi University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign, USAB Ribas Spanish National Centre for

Environmental Health, SpainK Richter Graz University of Technology,

AustriaS Rinaldi Politecnico di Milano, ItalyF Robuste Universitat Politecnica de

Catalunya, SpainJ Roddick Flinders University, AustraliaA C Rodrigues Universidade Nova de

Lisboa, PortugalF Rodrigues Poly Institute of Porto,

PortugalG R Rodríguez Universidad de Las Palmas

de Gran Canaria, SpainC W Roeder University of Washington,

USAJ M Roesset Texas A & M University,

USA

W Roetzel Universitaet der Bundeswehr Hamburg, Germany

V Roje University of Split, CroatiaR Rosset Laboratoire d’Aerologie, FranceJ L Rubio Centro de Investigaciones

sobre Desertificacion, SpainT J Rudolphi Iowa State University, USAS Russenchuck Magnet Group,

SwitzerlandH Ryssel Fraunhofer Institut Integrierte

Schaltungen, GermanyS G Saad American University in Cairo,

EgyptM Saiidi University of Nevada-Reno, USAR San Jose Technical University of

Madrid, SpainF J Sanchez-Sesma Instituto Mexicano

del Petroleo, MexicoB Sarler Nova Gorica Polytechnic,

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Technology, USAX Shixiong Fudan University, ChinaG C Sih Lehigh University, USAL C Simoes University of Coimbra,

PortugalA C Singhal Arizona State University,

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Brunswick, CanadaH Sozer Illinois Institute of Technology,

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Freiburg, GermanyC C Spyrakos National Technical

University of Athens, GreeceI V Stangeeva St Petersburg University,

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Metallurgy, PolandS T Tadano Hokkaido University, JapanH Takemiya Okayama University, JapanI Takewaki Kyoto University, JapanC-L Tan Carleton University, CanadaE Taniguchi Kyoto University, JapanS Tanimura Aichi University of

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Queensland, AustraliaR Tremblay Ecole Polytechnique, CanadaI Tsukrov University of New Hampshire,

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Alicante, SpainF F V Vincent University of Bath, UKS Walker Imperial College, UKG Walters University of Exeter, UKB Weiss University of Vienna, AustriaH Westphal University of Magdeburg,

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& Technology, Hong KongM Zador Technical University of Budapest,

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Applied Mechanics, RussiaN Zhong Maebashi Institute of

Technology, JapanH G Zimmermann Siemens AG, GermanyR Zainal Abidin Infrastructure University

Kuala Lumpur(IUKL), Malaysia

Waste Management and the Environment VII

EDITORS

C. A. BrebbiaWessex Institute of Technology, UK

G. PasseriniUniversità Politecnica delle Marche, Italy

H. ItohUniversity of Nagoya, Japan

Published by

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EDITORS

C. A. BrebbiaWessex Institute of Technology, UKG. PasseriniUniversità Politecnica delle Marche, ItalyH. ItohUniversity of Nagoya, Japan

Preface

This volume contains most of the papers presented at the 7th International Conference on Waste Management and Environment held in Ancona, Italy co-organised by the Polytechnic University of La Marche and the Wessex Institute, UK.

This very successful series of conferences started in Cadiz in 2002 and since then it has been reconvened in different locations, ie Rhodes (2004); Malta (2006); Granada (2008); Tallinn (2010), and the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute, in 2012.

Waste Management is one of the key problems of modern society due to the ever expanding volume and complexity of discarded domestic and industrial waste.

Society is increasingly aware of the need to establish better practices and safer solutions for waste disposal. This requires further investigation into disposal methods and recycling as well as new technologies to monitor land lls, industrial mining wastes and chemical and nuclear repositories.

Waste Management has been undergoing a strong and steady development during past years, but today this is turning into a sudden increase of activity in several aspects.

The rst regards the establishment of two new classi cations, those of Secondary Raw Materials (SRM) and of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). They both refer to useful products obtained from waste and make a shift from the mere recycle or reuse - mostly seen as a way to reduce dumping- to the valuable employment of such matter within the production cycle.

Another aspect of this revolution is happening subtly and gradually by people buying waste; particularly eWaste and some types of plastic, the so-called technical waste. This is happening due to the strong demand and high price of certain new materials

and the possibility of sorting out waste in developing regions of the world. As a result, an unregulated market in Secondary Raw Materials (SRM) has developed, leading to distortion in the of cial trade and severe forms of misconduct.

A major cause of concern is the implications of waste management on health and the environment. The conference discusses some of these topics and the need to arrive at suitable strategies to waste management. The papers published in the book appear as Volume 180 of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment.

Papers presented at Wessex Institute conferences are referenced by CrossRef and regularly appear in notable reviews, publications and databases, including referencing and abstract services such as SCOPUS, Compendex, Thomson Reuters Web of Knowledge, ProQuest and Scitech Book News.

All conference papers are archived on line in the WIT e.Library (http://library.witpress.com/) where they are permanently available to the international scienti c community.

The Editors are grateful to the members of the International Scienti c Advisory Committee and other colleagues who helped review the papers contained in this volume, as well as to all authors for the quality of their contributions.

C.A. Brebbia, G. Passerini & H. ItohAncona, Italy2014

Contents

Section 1: Industrial waste management

The recent trend of e-waste recycling and rare metal recovery in Japan H. Itoh ................................................................................................................... 3

The recovery of valuable metals and recycling of alumina from a waste spent hydroprocessing catalyst: extraction with Na salts M. Marafi, M. S. Rana & H. Al-Sheeha .............................................................. 15

The production of high purity alumina from solid wastes obtained from aluminium factories M. G. Ghoniem, T. M. Sami, S. A. El-Reefy & S. A. Mohamed .......................... 29

Reverse logistics: a route that only makes sense when adopting a systemic vision T. R. T. Campos, M. V. A. Fonseca & R. M. N. Morais ...................................... 41

Ship waste management along the Danube: the way towards an International Danube Ship Waste Convention H. Berger, I. Horvat & G. Simongáti ................................................................. 53

Full scale vermicomposting and land utilisation of pulpmill solids in combination with municipal biosolids (sewage sludge) M. Quintern ........................................................................................................ 65

The pyrolysis and gasification of high-density polyethylene in a batch reactor O. Klein-Bendavid, Y. Peled, D. Tavor, T. Ohaion, P. Elias & G. Bar-Nes ....... 77

Section 2: Waste management

Degradable plastics and their potential for affecting solid waste systems K. L. Greene & D. J. Tonjes ............................................................................... 91

The physical and chemical properties of solid waste from water tourism. Case study: Taling Chan Floating Market, Bangkok, ThailandS. R. Tuprakay, P. Suksabye, P. Menchai & S. Tuprakay................................. 103

Investigating household recycling behaviour through the interactions between personal and situational factors E. E. A-Jalil, D. B. Grant, J. D. Nicholson & P. Deutz .................................... 113

Assessing the physical planning and management of waste in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality: implications for management S. Buso, M. D. V. Nakin & A. Abraham ............................................................ 125

Commitment, attitude and behavioural changes of the community towards a waste segregation program: a case study of Malaysia S. I. Sharifah Norkhadijah, H. Hajar Mariah, R. Irniza & Z. A. Emilia .......... 137

Section 3: Direct and indirect pre-treatment of MSW (Special session organised by E. C. Rada)

The mass and energy balance of an integrated solution for municipal solid waste treatment V. Torretta, G. Ionescu, M. Raboni & G. Merler ............................................. 151

Proposal for the correct management of the Life Cycle Assessment results from integrated municipal solid waste treatmentM. Schiavon, M. Ragazzi, E. C. Rada & G. Merler .......................................... 163

Environmental assessment of waste transport and treatment: a case study G. Ionescu & P. Stefani ................................................................................... 175

Municipal solid waste selective collection and tourism E. C. Rada, C. Zatelli & P. Mattolin ................................................................ 187

Section 4: Waste water

Wastewater sewage sludge: the thermal treatment solutionD. Panepinto & G. Genon ................................................................................ 201

The modelling of an anoxic-aerobic biological reactor S. R. M. Kutty, H. A. Gasim & M. H. Isa .......................................................... 213

Section 5: Remote sensing

GIS and infrared aerial view: advanced tools for the early detection of environmental violations M. Lega & G. Persechino ................................................................................. 225

Assessment of airborne and spaceborne thermal infrared remote sensing for detecting and characterizing landfills B. Beaumont, J. Radoux & P. Defourny ........................................................... 237

Section 6: Reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery (4Rs)

The use of membrane technology for the formulation of spent anaerobic digester effluents as a nutrient source for bacterial growth M. P. Zacharof, C. Vouzelaud & R. W. Lovitt .................................................. 251

Developing a theoretical behavioural framework and identifying its association with UK industry evidence on waste re-use P. Tavri, S. Sayce & V. Hands .......................................................................... 259

Industrial aluminum hazardous waste as a new raw material for zeolite synthesis A. López-Delgado, O. Rodríguez, I. Padilla, R. Galindo & S. López-Andrés ............................................................................................ 273

The characterization and composting of the municipal solid waste of Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia S. O. Mutairi, A. M. Ghoneim, A. S. Modaihsh, M. O. Mahjoub & R. A. Abdel-Aziz ............................................................................................ 283

An effective solid waste management system in Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria: a proffered solution of a well-articulated plan of attributes A. U. Okonkwo .................................................................................................. 293

Section 7: Environmental impact

The environmental impact of a municipal solid waste incinerator: 15 years of monitoring E. Venturini, I. Vassura, F. Passarini, E. Bernardi, L. Ciacci, L. Ferroni & L. Morselli ................................................................................... 305

An assessment of groundwater contamination around a solid waste disposal site in Kano, Nigeria A. F. Ali & R. J. Young .....................................................................................317

Section 8: Environmental remediation

Adsorption for environmental remediation: the use of activated carbon as a by-product from a biomass gasification plant compared with commercial activated carbon A. S. Oliveira, C. M. Cardoso, C. G. Maia & P. Brito ..................................... 327

Bioremediation of contaminated marine sediments: examples of successful applications L. Rocchetti, V. Fonti, F. Beolchini & A. Dell’Anno ........................................ 335

The development of physico-chemico enhanced washing for fine-grained soil H. Shin & J. Park ............................................................................................. 345

Section 9: Disposal of high-level radioactive waste in a new perspective (Special session organised by R. Pusch)

The long-term effects of nuclear accidents R. Sjöblom ........................................................................................................ 355

The environmental implications of depleted uranium in Iraq and the principles of isolating it N. Al-Ansari, S. Knutsson & R. Pusch .............................................................. 367

VDH – a case of ostrich philosophy or a serious alternative for the disposal of highly radioactive waste? R. Pusch, M. H. Mohammed & S. Knutsson ..................................................... 377

The predicted and actual wetting rate of the buffer in repositories for high-level radioactive waste R. Pusch, G. Ramqvist & S. Knutsson .............................................................. 391

The assessment of clay buffers for isolating highly radioactive waste T. Yang, R. Pusch, S. Knutsson & L. Xiaodong ................................................ 403

Section 10: Agricultural waste

The on-line measurement of greenhouse gases emitted by a reactor for nitrogen removal from digested zootechnical slurry P. Battistoni, S. Carletti & G. Passerini ........................................................... 417

The manufacture and properties of oil palm and pineapple leaf fiberboard panels R. Moya, D. Camacho, J. Mata & R. Soto Fallas ............................................. 431

Section 11: Energy from waste

The hydrothermal decomposition of biomass and waste to produce bio-oil P. De Filippis, B. de Caprariis, M. Scarsella & N. Verdone ............................ 445

Biodiesel production from used frying oil and microalgae: a preliminary study M. Chamoumi, M. Veillette, N. Faucheux & M. Heitz ...................................... 453

Effluent recycling of a multiphase anaerobic baffled reactor treating food waste A. Ahamed, C. L. Chen & J. Y. Wang ............................................................... 463

Energy products from source-separated organic waste G. K. Luk & V. Bekmuradov ............................................................................. 469

Environmental and economic analysis of the Turin incineration plant D. Panepinto, A. Senor & G. Genon ............................................................... 479

The wonders of waste processing by termites A. H. Hussein .................................................................................................... 491

Author index ................................................................................................... 501

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The environmental implications of depleted uranium in Iraq and the principles of isolating it

N. Al-Ansari, S. Knutsson & R. Pusch Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden

Abstract

Iraq experienced two devastating wars in 1991 and 2003, during which massive amounts of new weapons and sophisticated manufactured nuclear weapons called depleted uranium (DU) were used. DU is a by-product of the enrichment of natural uranium for nuclear reactor-grade or nuclear weapons-grade uranium. Depleted uranium is chemically identical to natural uranium. During the second Gulf war in 2003 U.S. and British troops used more than 1100 to 2200 tons of DU. As a consequence the ruminants of wars are reported to have seriously affected people and the environment, causing cancer and abnormal birth defects. The water and soil all over most of Iraq is contaminated. There is no strategy, national or international program for cleaning Iraq of DU wastes. Site selection criteria have been suggested for the disposal of radioactive waste but no principle of designing and constructing disposals. The present paper describes a large geological feature, a deep natural depression, which would be useful for isolating DU by isolating it in smectitic Iraqi clay. Keywords: depleted uranium, Iraq, radioactive waste, military radioactive waste.

1 Introduction

Iraq occupies a total area of 437,072 square kilometers (fig. 1). The total population in Iraq is about 30,000,000. The majority of the people occupy cities on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. 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). Depleted uranium (DU) is a

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Figure 1: General map of Iraq.

by-product of the enrichment of natural uranium for nuclear reactor-grade or nuclear weapons-grade uranium. Depleted uranium is chemically identical to natural uranium. In DU most of the 235 isotope has been extracted leaving mainly the non-fissionable 238 isotope. It is used to make the tips of armor-piercing shells because it is extremely dense: 1.7 times as dense as lead. In addition, unlike other heavy metals that tend to flatten or mushroom upon impact, DU has the ability to “self-sharpen” as material spread out by the impact ignites and burns off as the munitions pierces its target [1–3]. In this research, the environmental implications of DU will be highlighted and solutions will be given to protect the environment in Iraq.

2 Depleted uranium in Iraq

DU was used twice by the Americans and allied forces against Iraqi troops and personnel in 1991 and 2003. During the second Gulf war in 2003 US 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. This quantity is 400 to 800 more powerful than the ones used in the first Gulf war. According to Al-muqdadi [4] every 800 tons of DU is equivalent to 83 nuclear bombs. Hence the equivalent of about 250 nuclear bombs was dropped in the 2003 war. Weyman [5] reported that the Uranium Medical Research Center published data about the quantities of DU used in Iraq can be summed up to consist of at least 2000 metric tons.

368 Waste Management and The Environment VII


The exact location that had been contaminated extends from southern to northern Iraq (fig. 2). In addition to the radioactive contamination due to military activities in Gulf war II and III, other dangerous contamination was from the material and equipment at the Iraqi Energy Authority headquarters (fig. 2). Tons of uranium in the form of “yellow cake” as well as by-products from processing activities in addition to radioactive waste stored in barrels. In other parts of the Iraqi Energy Authority headquarter centre, there were about 200 barrels of isotopes and radioactive materials as well as yellow uranium oxides; they were all spilled on the ground. If a strong wind blows, it can carry these quantities to great distances outside. To this comes the problem with breeding in laboratories of insects used as biological insecticides. The expected ecological disaster from releasing thousands of flies known as chrysomya bezziana, nicknamed screw worm, from the headquarters became real when the flies were released by the looters. These flies were to be released after being sterilized [5]. Hall [6] stated that no place in Iraq is free from radioactive contamination, not even the “safe” Green Zone in Baghdad where military staff and civilian authorities, international journalists, and the Iraqi government live and work.

Figure 2: Contaminated sites with DU in Iraq. Left: Military action sites

[23]. Right: Bombed nuclear facilities.

3 Consequences of depleted uranium in Iraq

Following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, over 140,000 cases of cancer have been reported, which are believed to be caused by toxic weaponry used by the occupying troops [7, 8]. Physical abnormality is increasing after the Gulf war where of 13,191 pregnancies among the partners of male Gulf vets, 686, or 5.2 percent, had some form of physical abnormality, compared with 342, or 3.5 percent, of the 9,758 non-Gulf pregnancies [9].



4 Clean-up activities of contaminated areas in Iraq

Major areas of engagement in Operation Iraqi Freedom cover more than 300 sites all over Iraq. The soil as well as the military equipment in all these sites are believed to be contaminated by DU used by American and allied forces. Due to the abnormal high radiation rates in these sites and their effect on humans and environment, the Iraqi Government and the American and allied forces (coalition forces) carried out clean up and soil replacement activities. A comprehensive survey has been made on the sites where coalition forces tried to clean [5]. The aim of this operation was to remove potentially contaminating soil from living and working areas and this activity showed that fine, contaminated dust is spreading over areas where there are at least 5,000,000 residents in Baghdad alone.

5 Ways of isolating solid waste

5.1 Principles and location

The two common principles of disposing hazardous waste are to construct landfills that are isolated by clay-based liners covering the waste mass and underlying it for separation from the groundwater, or to place the waste underground and isolate it from the surrounding rock or soil by clay or concrete. Both techniques are proposed for disposal of contaminated soil, DU weapon and ammunition and other military scrap. The most strongly contaminated waste, classified as low-level waste with a required time of isolation of 300 years, can preferably be placed in clay-isolated concrete vaults according to the Lithuanian, French and Spanish concepts. However, the climatic conditions in Iraq offer simpler and cheaper versions of the landfill concept than in Europe for disposing such waste. Thus, high temperature and very low precipitation make it possible to use thin top liners and to omit the bottom liner. Necessary overburden for providing sufficient effective pressure on the top liner and retarding hydration of it is easily prepared of desert sand. The fact the groundwater level is more than 100 m below the ground surface in the deserts of western and southern Iraq eliminates the risk of wetting of the waste from below. A special case that we will describe in this document is the particularly good conditions for disposal of large amounts of solid waste like weapons, ammunition and vehicles in a deep depression in the western part of Iraq.

5.2 Site selection

Selection of a suitable site for locating a landfill a DU and military scrap requires that one considers its effect on humans, the environment, water resources, air, and soil as well as other utilities like transportation and power supply. In addition, the landfill should have sufficient capacity to meet the current and projected waste to be deposited within at least 10 years. A number of criteria have been proposed for landfill sitting [10–12], the most important ones concerning:



Distance from towns, airports, highways and public parks and recreation areas,

Depth to groundwater level, Permeability of the underground (soil or rock), Risk of flooding, Nearness to surface water, Discharge of water from the landfill, a matter of topography, – distance to

protected areas or areas used for breeding animals, Nearness to fault areas and karst terrain with sinkholes, Seismicity especially for sites with nearby reservoirs, Rainfall duration and intensity, temperature, humidity and wind speed and

direction. The priorities of the above conditions will vary from one site to another. Specific criteria are usually recommended values and the combined function of two or more conditions must be considered.

5.3 Space-requiring DU waste

Most of the battered remnants of the Iraqi wars are radioactively contaminated. Despite the passage of two decades of the first war and 8 years of the second war these remains are still radioactive and residues are found in farm fields, along roads, near residential areas (fig. 3). It is believed that there are three places in Iraq that can satisfy the above site selection criteria all of them being in desert terrain, which represents 60% of the total land area of Iraq. They are termed the Western deserts, Southern deserts and Al-Jazira deserts of which the latter is in northern Iraq (fig. 4), [13–15]. The proposed design of landfills in these areas is reported [16–20] worked out with special respect to the stability of the slopes of the top liners and overfill and to the present exogenic conditions including climate and seismicity.

Figure 3: Military scrap yards in Iraq.



5.4 The special case of Umm Chaimin depression

5.4.1 Geological conditions A potential candidate site for disposal of large quantities of radioactive waste represented by DU, ammunition, weapons and wrecked vehicles is the Umm Chaimin depression (figs. 4, 5). It is a topographic depression, almost circular in shape, with a long diameter of about 2.9 km (N–S direction) and a short diameter of 2.5 km. (E–W direction). It is 28 m to 38 m deep and located 95 km southwest of Rutbah city in the Western desert, the surrounding area being flat. The area of the top of the depression at closed contour line is 5.73 km2 and its total volume 0.10953 km3 [21]. The floor of the depression is composed of Quaternary sediments to a depth of 72 m overlying limestones and claystones of Paleocene or Late Cretaceous age. The Quaternary sediments are compact fine illite clay over 30 m of breccia. On the rim of the depression the rock consists of 10 m of silicified limestone interbedded with dolomitic limestones, followed by 20 m of very coarse crystalline limestones. The sloping boundaries have a dip of 4–60o [21]. The depression is most probably of karst origin developed within the limestones of the Ratga Formation (Eocene) and possibly in gypsum and anhydrite beds, causing collapse of the roof. The age of the depression is estimated to be Early–Late Pleistocene [21]. It is being proposed as a DU disposal site and would well be considered as a major candidate although it has been recommended to implement a comprehensive program for further assessing its suitability as well as that of the aforementioned landfills [22].

Figure 4: A: Western, Southern and Jezera Deserts in Iraq. B: Topographic map of Umm Chaimin.

A B



Figure 5: Satellite images of Umm Chaimin.

5.4.2 Hydrological conditions Being located in desert terrain and containing no free water the Umm Chaimin depression is not hydrologically active and has probably been dried out since Tertiary time. Under prevailing climatic conditions it will remain dry for very long periods of time and most certainly for the required 300 years of isolation of DU-type waste from flowing groundwater. However, rain occasionally falls and placed waste materials must be shielded during placement and arranging the site to become a complete repository.

5.4.3 Proposed design principle The final state of the Umm Chaimin deposition site would preferably involve complete filling of the whole depression with waste up to 5–10 m below the ground level of the surrounding terrain and with the waste being covered by low-pervious clayey material up to this level. The top of this layer should have a conical shape and be covered by a conformable coherent slab of on-site cast cement-poor concrete. The concrete is in turn covered by a “top liner” of a few decimetres of expandable clay mixed with sand over which a filter of silt/sand is placed. The uppermost part of the whole series of barriers is a several meter thick erosion-protective layer of coarse gravel and blocks. The top of the whole depression would thus form a hill with a height of some tens of meters over the surrounding terrain in its central part so that rain is drained off through the uppermost erosion-resisting layer to the surrounding desert sand. The movement of infiltrated rain water in the clayey top liner below the erosion protection will be of cyclic type with evaporation in dry periods and temporary hydration in wet periods. For preserving the microstructural constitution during such cycles the granulometry shall be selected so that no expansion or shrinkage can take place. For maximizing the isolating function, expandable clay is preferably placed on the slopes of the depression and between layers of waste material in the course of the waste filling operation. This will delay hydration of the waste by many tens of thousands of years even if the groundwater level is raised up to the present ground level. Care has to be taken to shield filling materials and waste from rain in the repository construction phase, which can be very long.



6 Conclusions

During the first Gulf war in 1999, 300 tons of depleted uranium was used. In 2003 Gulf war it is believed that another 1000 to 2000 tons of DU accumulated. Remnants of DU weapons used in 1991 and 2003 wars constitute a major threat to the environment and including humans, animals and plants. The cheapest technique to get rid of the contaminated radioactive military scrap waste is to bury it. The climatic, hydrological and geological conditions make the deserts in the western, northern and southern parts of the country suitable for the deposition of DU-contaminated soil and wrecked armor. It is proposed, that the waste should be brought from the fifteen sites that are most heavily contaminated by DU to a small number of disposal sites in the western, northern and southern deserts areas. These disposal sites can be of different size depending on the amount and type of waste. Umm Chaimin depression in the western desert seems to be a very good suitable candidate site for burying radioactive military waste. Public awareness program should be launched about the potential risks and to introduce protection measures, including warning signs and restricting access to contaminated locations and storage sites. A well planned system for transport and disposal of DU and other war-related radioactive waste is a must for Iraq.

References

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The environmental implications of depleted uranium in Iraq and the principles of isolating it

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