I believe depleted means totally depleted. As I recall, depleted uranium was used as part of the armor on the Abrams (sp?) tank. Don't think they would have done that if it was harmful to the troops.
I believe it is used for the armor piercing shells the tanks fire. Checking on Wikipedia:
Nope. It's still mildly radioactive, but -according to the Army- not dangerously so unless one is exposed over rather a long term.
Remember, however, that *no* amount of radiation is *good* for you.
Problem is that the depleted uranium bullets which get scattered around during combat have usually been badly shattered upon impact, and uranium is dangerous to have in the environment because it can cause fatal heavy-metal poisoning if you manage to get very much of it in your system.
You'd better move to a planet with radioactive elements in its crust or atmosphere, then. Kinda hard to find in the universe. You might have to migrate to an alternate reality. ;-)
Look up background radiation, here for example:
Another: for any given amount of electricity, a coal-fired power plant will emit more radiation into the atmosphere an a nuclear plant. The Three Mile Island accident, which casued people to fear for their lives, raised background radiation by about the amount of a chest X-ray
I'm out of single malt. ;-(
Wolf K.
Long ago I had access to the tungsten disks from xray tubes - there was no way to get an HO boiler weight from one in one peice.
Greg.P.
How could one totally deplete uranium inside a million odd years? You have far too much faith in your military and weapons makers!
Regards, Greg.P.
It's dotted all around Iraq and Afghanistan - it makes geiger-counters scream.
Also checking wikipedia on M1 Abrams tank "Beginning in 1987, M1A1 tanks received improved armor packages that included depleted uranium mesh . . .".
Um, I suspect you left the word "no" out of the preceding paragraph.
We already live on a planet that has radioactives in the crust and atmosphere.
Zirconium is heavier. Cheap if you can get hold of some used nuclear fuel cladding.
Yah, right!
Um, I suspect you left the word "no" out of the preceding paragraph.
We already live on a planet that has radioactives in the crust and atmosphere.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perhaps less in the atmosphere since weekly testing ceased ...
--=AD-------------
No doubt. (To the relief of the good folks in Saint George, Utah.)
But there are still old abandoned Uranium mines in the Four Corners area where the Radon gas sets gieger counters clicking fifty yards from the adit.
I've seen a couple myself on hunting trips, but never went close for the obvious reasons.
~Pete
On 10/03/2011 8:56 PM, Greg Procter wrote: [...]
"Depleted uranium" has had the U-235 removed. The radioactivity of U-238 is a small fraction of that of U-235. I wouldn't spend much time around it, but more because of the risk of heavy metal poisoning than because of the radioactivity.
Wolf K.
Yup, mistyping, again.
Sigh.
Wolf K.
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About 3% of the background radiation is attributable to human sources, including atmospheric testing. Of course, that's not the whole story. Atmospheric testing released a good deal of short-lived radioactives into the air, which had some rather nasty effects. OTOH, the number of additional deaths caused by them is probably about the same as a year's worth of US traffic deaths, if that.
It seems we love to scream about low-level risks caused by Nasty People Whom We Love To Hate, and ignore much higher risks that we are personally responsible for, or whose mitigation would require some loss of convenience.
Wolf K.
-----=AD-------------
Try your Geiger counter on the next glass of single malt you intend to=20 enjpoy.
;-)
Wolf K.
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I once did QC on nuclear fuel cladding. That ought to scare the crap out of anybody ...
:-(
Children are in far more danger from heavy metals.
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The results, or the fact you did it ;)
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