Where to get depleted uranium?

I've read that depleted uranium is six times as dense as lead. It would be nifty to have a chunk of it, that is if it's not radioactive. The US military uses it for missile nosecones and whatnot, so it can't be very dangerous.
Is this a controlled material? If not then does anyone know where I can get a small piece?
Thanks for your help.

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From: http://science.howstuffworks.com/bunker-buster3.htm "Density - Depleted uranium is 1.7 times heavier than lead, and 2.4 times heavier than steel. "
Something that I didn't know: "Depleted uranium burns. It is something like magnesium in this regard. If you heat uranium up in an oxygen environment (normal air), it will ignite and burn with an extremely intense flame. Once inside the target, burning uranium is another part of the bomb's destructive power."
From: http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/faq_17apr.htm "Depleted uranium is a heavy metal that is also slightly radioactive" and give further information about the effects and the human body.
From: http://www.miltoxproj.org/DU%20Fact%20Sheet.htm DU is regulated as a radioactive substance by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

there was a mod to the L-1011 airplane that involved putting depleted uranium weights as counterbalances on a couple of control arms - I wonder what happens to those weights when the planes are decomissioned.
and, if you go to iraq, near the kuwait border, you will find a fair amount of it from the desert storm campaign - of course it's a bit of a trip.
"Lane" <lane (no spam) at copperaccents dot com> wrote in message
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be

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Found article about someone who actually got a hold of some...
http://www.theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/Elements/092 / About half way down the page, look for "Depleted uranium cylinder". "After several false starts, I now have an indisputably genuine, solid machined cylinder of pure depleted uranium metal. Although vast quantities of this stuff exist (vast as in at least a million tons worldwide), it is incredibly hard to get a hold of. This is because there are no uses for it that are not fairly tightly regulated: Most are military, and the civilian uses are for things like aircraft counterweights or radio pharmaceutical shipping containers. Not the sort of thing that's likely to end up in the local surplus auction."

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IIRC from A&P school, more than a few large aircraft use it as a control surface counterweight material. The weights must be disposed of properly when the aircraft is written off.
After accidents, finding the weights (and recorders) are a top priority.
Recall they're heavily cad plated... impression stamped with warnings, and painted international orange for easy identification.
I Googled a little, found this FAA advisory circular.
http://www.faa.gov/fsdo/orl/files/advcir/AC20-123.TXT
Erik

maybe so, but when I was in the lab and these were being tested, they were green, and two of them fit in a 1 galon paint can (that was surpsingly heavy) - it was amusing to watch the company mail person pick up the can - or almost pick it up, do a double take, and then barely move it with both hands, from the "out box" it was in, into his mail cart.
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william_b_noble wrote:
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Some of the aircraft I have worked on over the years have had DU in them as mass balance weights for flight controls.
It is relatively benign. We were under strict guidance to not drill, grind, or otherwise alter the weights. There were procedures in place that dealt with crash salvage and recovering the weights for disposal, if it was required.
I am under the impression that the OP is suffering from a bad case of ignorant, and perhaps should do his own homework to see if he really wants to deal with the stuff. If he wants heavy, lead is probably his best bet for safe and easy. Maybe solid tungsten, if he has the budget.
I expect that if the OP were in a position to actually require DU, he would already know the risks vs. the benefits, as well as the sources.
Cheers Trevor Jones

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only 1.5 times heavier.
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nosecones are very dangerous
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you can easily buy tungsten, it is jhust as heavy and also very hard material. To the military, tungsten is more expensive than DU, but for us mortals, it is more easily obtainable. I have a piece of tungsten at home, it feels incredibly heavy./
i

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Another reason depleted uranium is used by the military is for its "self sharpening" property - instead of flattening out like lead and other metals upon impact, it lengthens and gets thinner - great for armour piercing. It would be interesting to see how that property would work in a machining context - either as the metal being machined, or as the cutting tool..

John Sefton wrote:
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It also catches fire once it's through the armor -- that's very handy for distracting the crew of the tank that you're firing on.

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30 years ago the Toronto Science Museum had a brick-sized chunk of DU on display under a plexiglass dome. The dome had a hole for your hand and you could lift the brick. impressive heft.

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A standard brick has a volume of about 1 liter, so your DU brick weighed 19 kilograms.

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19
Interesting. DU must have about the same specific gravity as gold. (Slightly higher, I'd guess)

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Gold = 19.32 Depleted Uranium = 18.7

"Lane" <lane (no spam) at copperaccents dot com> wrote in message wrote in message news:d49i7m$on9
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Well... slightly lower, then! :^)
That "d" word obviously makes all the difference...

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It also burns the armor itself; Iron + Uranium is an exothermic reaction.

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Makes for an interesting home workshop experience, then!

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 09:52:02 -0700, Tim Wescott
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Distracting...I like that.
Flaming spalls the temperature of the face of the sun ricochetting at ultra high speeds around the inside of the crew compartment setting fire to the hydraulics, padding, clothing, ammunition.....
Distracting..thats good.
Gunner
Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"

Ignoramus20427 wrote:
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The Phalanx anti-missile gun (of "oops, forgot to turn it on" fame) used to use depleted uranium rounds, but they switched to tungsten. I have no idea why, but if gunners had to use special gloves to load the dang things it would make sense.

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Thanks for the info. I hope that they are not wasting tungsten during training.
i