Britain's ministry of defence is finding it difficult to sell off a few of the 3,400 sites it owns, to raise some urgently required funds. At least 8 sites are assumed to be radioactive from the use of radium-based luminous paint, and at least 1 is contaminated with the First World War left over of mustard gas. Besides, numerous firing ranges are littered with unexploded munitions. John Stuart, head of the ministry's environmental unit admitted at an international defence industry conference in Munich, "We have to acknowledge that areas of our estate may never be disposed of because of the level of contamination."
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