Dundrennan Range begins week of DU firing

The Dundrennan Range within the Kirkcudbright Training Area in south west Scotland has featured in the news this week, with the commencement of five days of test firing of tank ammunition using Depleted Uranium (DU) weapons.

Scottish Environment Minister Mike Russell MSP said, “The Scottish Government has not been consulted on this issue and it is clearly disappointing that the MoD has not taken local opinion into account.

South of Scotland SNP MSP Alasdair Morgan said he was also concerned at the decision.

This test programme is said to be the first using DU shells on the range for some five years.

Local campaigners have planned to stage a protest in nearby Kirkcudbright against the test firing.

The MoD said comprehensive environmental monitoring had been in place around the military range for several years, and that the the results had shown that the DU shells did not pose a significant risk to the environment or people in the area.

Depleted uranium is an extremely dense, heavy, and hard material, used to make armour piercing shells and bullets. They carry no explosive payload, penetrating and destroying their target by virtue of the energy their high velocity produces when they impact on it.