DU is less radioactive, mainly emitting alpha particles, which don’t have enough energy to go through skin, so exposure to the outside of the body is not considered a serious hazard.
It can be a serious health hazard, however, if it is swallowed or inhaled.
I believe and “alpha particle” is an electron.
Are Tiktok kids starting up a “depleted uranium shell challenge” now?
an alpha particle is generally defined as a particle with 2 protons and 2 neutrons with zero electrons
DU itself is self sharpening and pyrophoric
The alpha particle is essentially a Helium atom stripped of its electrons.
DU can also be combustible, making it very dangerous to inhale.
Can the UK infantile be any more stupid and I’ll informed?
Big problem is the long term damage caused by alpha particles when you inhale them and they get caught in your lungs, creating scar tissue in the process. Think radon gas which is responsible for almost 20% of lung cancer deaths.
Left over from Iraq.
“I believe and “alpha particle” is an electron.”
One is forced to wonder what other falsehood you believe.
The idea that depleted uranium (DU) is “mostly alpha particles” and “less radioactive than unprocessed uranium” is misleading. According to the EPA, DU is 60% as radioactive as natural uranium.
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-05/documents/402-r-06-011.pdf
I suspect the downplay of radioactivity is due to the fact that so many western countries are using “radioactive” uranium and don’t want to scare people. Funny how the bombs aren’t scarry but the contents of the bombs are. After all you have to kill people a certain way or it’s not fair.
Now tell us how radioactive “natural” uranium is, Steve.
Answer is, “not very.” That’s why they have to use gas centrifuges to separate the good stuff from the rest of it.
The good stuff is actually the stuff that is “not very” radioactive. U234, U235 and U238 have very long half-lives, 245,000 years to 700 million to 4.5 billion years. It’s the daughter products that you have to worry about and that stuff is similar in natural or depleted uranium. Enriched uranium isn’t very radioactive either.
To remake my point, depleted uranium is natural uranium where most of the missing stuff (depleted) is not the bad stuff (radioactive).
Quite right, Phantom. No uranium is very radioactive. All of it has an extremely long half life. Canada has a lot of experience in making uranium nuclear fuel for all reactors all over the world. For CANDU fuel, the workers assemble the fuel bundles wearing gloves and plastic booties to prevent pickup of uranium dust. The principal radiation control is via ventilation of the trace elements of xenon gas that will be present.
I have a feeling that if a DU round is bouncing around inside your tank turret or APC, that dying of cancer 5 years earlier than you otherwise would is the least of your worries.
Yes. Lead is poisonous, but when I was a soldier no one told us we shouldn’t swallow bullets, we were trained to try very hard to not get shot.
“A new study shows an association between depleted uranium, used by the US during the Iraq war, and the risk of birth defects in Iraqi children.” – Sep 21, 2019
https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2019/09/21/new-study-documents-depleted-uranium-impacts-on-children-in-iraq/
“A new study, funded by a partnership between the Communist Party of China and George Soros, shows an association between depleted uranium used by the US during the Iraq war, and the risk of birth defects in Iraqi children.”
You forgot to say who paid for it, so I helped you out.
I can guarantee with 100% certainty that the Russians will see the “debate” in this light, regardless of the squabbling among western nations as to the nature of depleted uranium munitions. To them, essentially a “dirty bomb” on their territory and they will act accordingly regardless of how any of us feel about it.
Factoring in how other people see things is important if you want the big picture when making big decisions.
The Ukrainians are fighting the Russian invaders on the land that has been the nation of Ukraine since the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. It is not Russia, no matter what Putin and Russia say. It is Ukraine.
@rd – I take it your First Nations?
I suppose Putin & Russia have decided that they don’t agree with you. Personally I’m with Trump & DeSantis on this globalist war and not with Rachel Maddow or the girls on The View.
rd
your opinion and $5.00 will buy a coffee at Tim’s, take your opinion away , and same coffee is $1.90!
Ukraine has been part of Russia, long before it was a solo entity, now shove yer emotional BS
I agree. It is not Russia. It will be Russia soon enough but that is another story.
It was Ukraine before the Soviet Union broke up. But back then it mattered what Stalin said, and in the future it may again happen that what someone else says will matter that much more than what Ukrainians say or what it is said in other countries that cannot or will not spend enough of their own blood and treasure to change Russian minds.
@TheTooner – Currently it’s what the Obama & Hillary organized crime syndicate had laid out from 2008 through the 2014 coup. Of course with a 4 year hiatus with D. Trump, and back on track in 2020 with honest Joe and the junky turned Ukrainian Oil Tycoon.
How many more peace proposals will the US tell Zelenski “NO” before Ukraine is bled dry?
All,
My Father was born here to Finnish parents, and I inherited a deep and abiding hatred of Soviet Russia from him. After 1991, I was willing to let it go. I know Finland will never get back the land Russia took in the 1940s. Besides, the Finns abandoned it rather than live under the Stalin and the Soviets.
Russia is a screwed up, imploding, alcoholic mess with a collapsing population. Dragging Ukraine and Georgia down with them will not fix Russia, only destroy Ukraine and Georgia.
@rd
Putting bias aside is a good step, many in the world also view Ukraine exactly as you described. Regardless the Russian’s today are not the Soviets of yesteryear, neither are the Germans Nazi’s, nor the Japanese Imperial Japan. Some ghosts perhaps in all, including the Azov of Ukraine.
There is a political history here that has been covered adnauseam on SDA – NATO agreements, Minsk accord yada yada and yet those agreements have been broken admittedly by the west along with the admission that the US under the Obama administration facilitated the initiating coup in 2014.
There are no good guys in this conflict, only dead & displaced Ukrainian citizens. There is no benefit to our own citizens only the knowledge that we are bankrupting and ignoring our own crumbling infrastructure. Even worse to eventually send our own sons and daughters into this meatgrinder of our own governments making.
There is no winning this. Period. Russia will nuke if they feel the are losing and have nothing but the “regime change” demands of the west to look forward to.
The solution is peace, but for the second time (on record) NATO refuses. Incredibly naive and stupid for so many citizens of the west to be onboard with this globalist propaganda.
It’s a weapon. Is it a surprise it might be bad for you? They forgot to mention that uranium is also chemically poisonous, like arsenic or beryllium. It is also known to go on fire. When they machine the DU rounds they do it under fabulously controlled conditions.
Next check the propellant in RPGs and rockets from Russia. Is that like spring rain and flower petals? Or not so much?
Mountain meet the mole hill.
This is dumb. DU has been used across the world in battles. Russia uses it too.
Putin is getting desperate.
I’m more mad at the spoon feeding the weapons. For right or wrong we are here now. Give the weapons for Ukraine to win and let’s get this over with.
Ukraine winning or winning enough to go to the negotiating table from a position strength is best option open at this time.
On the flip side a so weaked Russia that falls apart is equally bad. China is waiting in the wings to pick up any pieces.
If Putin wins many many problem plus China win too. Then we will be spending cold war percentages on weapons.
Who is getting desperate? If you limit yourself to MSM propaganda, you might be misinformed.
Ukraine has lost 80% of its military troops. They are now kidnapping young teens and senior citizens to be used as cannon fodder. REEKS of Desperation.
The US is sacrificing Ukrainians to protect its own interests and corruption
@DanBC
The difference between the “pro-war” & “anti-war” crowd here is that pro-war advocates will never change the minds of the anti-war advocates regardless of any outcome. Whereas there will be plenty of pro-war people here who will at some point change their minds when the reality takes a little something of theirs in the future.
Possibly their economy, retirement plans, or maybe just their children when the Ukrainians run out of their own as Zelenski has already promised.
Of course if you still believe the Russians remain stuck in the Spring 2022 mud, then all bets are off.
How about the Ukrainians are fighting because they’d be better of dead than taken over by Russia?
@Rusty Shackleford – Good, and they are doing a damned good job of it, just with our money at our expense for an outcome they or we can’t win. It’s not our fight.
“How about the Ukrainians are fighting because they’d be better of dead than taken over by Russia?”
Oh, for sure. That’s why Ukrainian kids, when they grow up and leave home, head straight for Russia, right? Because it’s so awful?
Russia=Canada and Ukraine=Quebec.
Occurred to me the other day, keeping with your analogy: the Gaspe could end up being a future Donbass….and just realized while typing, that would make Maritimes the Crimea. Halifax = Sevastopol, Montreal = Odessa, Churchill = Arkhangel, TO = St Petersburg, Vancouver = Vladivostok
are they still gonna call it Gulf War Syndrome in veterans of the Ukraine War who are exposed to depleted uranium ?
They will call it Depleted Ukrainian.
Actual reliable info on DU rounds:
https://www.heritage.org/defense/report/dispelling-the-myths-about-military-use-depleted-uranium
https://www.army.mil/article/2037/depleted_uranium_a_hard_look_at_the_facts
Grab it when you can. Will not bother commenting because Francisco will delete it anyway.
Your army link does not make sense.
“Natural uranium becomes depleted uranium when the more radioactive isotopes are removed to make nuclear fuel.”
What is meant by “more radioactive isotopes”? Depleted uranium is depleted in U235 which is not very radioactive. Cs137 on the other hand is far more radioactive. I don’t think they remove Cs137 from natural uranium when they process it.
It’s like going to Pfizer links when you need mRNA vaccine study findings.
“Safe and Effective”
It’s a weird thing. I’ve searched for radioactivity, natural uranium, etc many times in the past. I’ve been underground and on exploration programs for the mineral. The articles were usually informative, often scholarly. Today when I searched for “underground mining methods for uranium”, or “how radioactive is natural uranium” etc., so many of the articles show dates within the past year (an alarming number show March 22, 2023) and are written for purpose. If it’s a mining company the goal is to show safety. If by the military it’s to show safety. If by the government it’s to make you feel safe.
Uranium. It’s not just for breakfast.
Wow, Francisco hasn’t deleted it yet, ok let’s keep pushing:
Depleted Uranium and Media Hysteria
Authors: John Whitehall
https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=yorku_main&id=GALE%7CA136342104&v=2.1&it=r
No sure if it will open as it will probably require a log in through a university library or similar. Anyway, long story short: it has been bullshit in Kosovo, It has been bullshit in Iraq, it is bullshit now and surely will be bullshit in the future.
You’ve lost your Effin mind. Drown yourself in perogies.
“Will not bother commenting because Francisco will delete it anyway.”
In order for the grownups here to have a civilized conversation, yes.
Gosh, they’d better stop using it. Depleted uranium might kill someone.
Kill Someone? In the middle of a warzone? I think your sarcasm is too subtle.
Personally, I would be more fearful of White Phosphorus Incendiary rounds. Imagine being hit with burning embers that water will not extinguish? Or a thermobaric or even a regular explosive bomb that will pulverize your lungs, and you slowly suffocate? The Israelis called it butterfly lungs during the Palestinian Infitada Bombing Campaign.
rd, I mentioned white phosphorus shells in a post elsewhere. A poster at another site mentioned Israel has them and I was wondering if Russia has them as well. I would guess they do.
I wonder if there isn’t a chance of miscalculation when DU is being transported, stored, used. I’m sure both sides to the war (NATO and Russia) do radiation monitoring of the region. Would enough DU trigger some detectors? Could a misunderstanding of the source of the radiation risk a response from the other side that leads to destruction?
I wouldn’t like to be a scrap metal collector in that neck of the woods without a radiation detector.
johnny bozoley
Ukraine is next door to Pohlack land, and the pohlacks would trample you to death when you tried to take THEIR scrap!
Whoooo! Scary! Uranium is radioactive, and it is used in AP Tank shells.
Guess What? They use Tungsten in AP Tank rounds because Tungsten is a very strong, very dense and very hard metal. Tungsten is also slightly Radioactive too. The W180 isotope also decays by alpa particle emission, like DU does. Welders find that out when they work with Tungsten alloy welding rods in nuclear plants.
Ever see fresh, un-irradiated Uranium nuclear fuel for PWRs and BWRs being transported on freeways? I have. It is packed in long boxes and the boxes are loaded onto ordinary flatbed trailers. No shielding is necessary. It is that non-radioactive. New Nuclear Fuel is Expensive as hell, but not dangerous radioactively. Just like DU tank shells.
Very good summary. CANDU fuel when new is shipped to a customer, the nuclear power plant, typically in boxes lined with styrofoam to protect the fuel from abrasions.
The longer the half life of an isotope, the less INTENSE the radioactivity is. Uranium is still around after the earth has formed all those years ago as it has a long half life and its radioactivity is very slight. There are natural “nuclear reactors” in Gabon that have been around for billions of years.
Depending on the type of radioactivity and where it goes in the body also make a big difference to its toxicity and health effects. Radioactive Iodine is absorbed by the thyroid but only has a short half life, (intense radiation) so in the event of a reactor melt down, they hand out iodine tablets to saturate your thyroid with clean iodine. Alpha Particles are essentially a helium nucleus, as mentioned above.
Most elements were radioactive at one point and have decayed into stable ones over time. Their source is the fusion reactions at the heart of stars. It’s also possible that some of our hydrogen (which makes up roughly 9.5% of our bodies) and lithium, which our body contains in very tiny trace amounts, originated from the Big Bang.
As Carl Sagan once put it: “Our Sun is a second- or third-generation star. All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are made of star-stuff.”
An ancient Serbian proverb states: “Be humble for you are made of dung. Be noble for you are made of stars.“
Good article here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK222850/
Quite right, Zon. When the Gabon deposits were discovered, it was found that what made the fission work was salt water acting as a neutron moderator. It was also discovered that based on the daughter products none of the material had moved more than two meters after nearly a billion years.
You are also entirely right about ours being a second generation star. It has to be, because our solar system contains elements greater than iron. Those are formed only in supernovae explosions.
Your Serbian quote is a good one. There’s one like it from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, when Prospero states, “We are such stuff as dreams are made of.”
Russia can leave Ukrainian territory at any time.
“Russia can leave Ukrainian territory at any time.”
Thanks, Captain Obvious, for such a useful contribution…
Obviously, Ukraine needs advanced DU armor-piercing weapons to take out 1960s Soviet era tanks, that are stuck in the mud.
Winning!
Depleted uranium is what is used in the shells fired by the A10 Warthog in the US military. It’s heavier than lead and can shred a Russian tank like tissue paper.
Especially a 1940s tank! That’s stuck in the mud!
The real spelling is “Esquimaux.”