DRC’s cobalt exports contain unreported uranium – our study estimates the global nuclear risk

Artisanal cobalt miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo risk exposure to uranium while working. Wikimedia Commons

The southern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is known as the Copperbelt because of its rich deposits of copper and other minerals.

The area was the original source of uranium ore for the first nuclear weapons built by the US’s Manhattan Project (1942 and 1947). Two atomic bombs were then dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.