EXPORT OF DEPLETED URANIUM TO RUSSIA

Motion Text

That this House condemns the sale of depleted uranium to Russia; raises with alarm concerns that Russia is the UK's biggest customer of depleted uranium, with 92 per cent of the UK's total exported weapons-grade substance sold to Russia in 2016 for a sum of £1.2 million; notes that depleted uranium is a by-product of the production of enriched uranium, which is used as fuel in nuclear reactors and in the manufacture of nuclear weapons; further notes with warning the range of military uses associated with depleted uranium including the manufacture of fission bombs; further raises concerns of the potential long-term health effects which have become apparent since its deployment for the first time in the Gulf War; acknowledges that the European Parliament has repeatedly passed resolutions requesting an immediate moratorium on the further use of depleted uranium ammunition, but that the UK has consistently rejected calls for a ban; and calls on the Government to impose immediate sanctions on the export of nuclear substances to Russia at a time when international tensions are fraught.