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DU is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium.
It is used in armor piercing ammunition or in armor plates of tanks.
It has a higher density than other materials, it pierces steel armor like a hot knive butter.
When such a weapon hits a tank it reaches over 1000c° so the soldiers inside burn in a split second, additional the uran atoms are accelerated and pass every human with devastating effects.
So this ammunition is extra effective in war and therefore used in high quantitys.
Until now it is used in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the Kosovo war.
The shell itsself isnt so bad, but after explosion there is a dust of all the burned material and this dust is radioactive.
You can actually breathe in this dust and will be affected forever by it.
You can only imagine how this dust affects people living in those countrys.
This weapons probably cause some of the "gulf war syndrome" cases.
It also affects the own soldier, who come in contact with those weapons. (cancer rates)
It also affects the next generation of the people coming in contackt, becouse embryos might be deformed.
The Dust can be transported very far by winds and since it takes around 20.000 years to loose half of his radioactivity it will stay in our nature forever this will affect the whole world on the long run.
We all are the target of those weapons fired to initially destroy a tank/plane or building.
http://www.brusselstribunal.org/DU-Azzawi.htm
+ Show Spoiler +
1- The USA and UK continuously used Depleted Uranium weapons against the population and environment in Iraq from 1991 until today.
2- Occupation forces in Iraq intentionally denied and covered up the types, locations and amounts of weapons that were used to prevent taking measures which could reduce health damages resulting from LLR exposure.
3- Occupation forces prohibited UNEP, WHO and other international agencies to conduct any exploration programs to assess the health risks to the people of Iraq of these radioactive contaminants.
4- Forbidding the release of any casualty statistics by the health ministry in Iraq right after the occupation is part of the crime that has been continuously committed against Iraq and Iraqis.
5- Exploration programs and site measurements proved without a doubt that the existence of DU related radioactive contamination all over most of Iraq (except the northern area of Kurdistan).
6- Published epidemiological studies in Basrah introduced a clear correlation between DU related exposure to LLR and the multifold increase of malignancies, congenital malformations and multiple malformations in detected DU contaminated areas.
7- Other pathological and hematological studies indicated the existence of chromosomal and DNA aberrations and abnormalities in the 1991 Iraqi Gulf War veterans. Other studies proved their effects on lowering the activities of the human immune system in exposed individuals.
8- Iraqi researchers’ site measurements of 2000 revealed the fact that the Muthana governorate and Al-Samawa city were contaminated since 1991. This fact was proven by the Dutch troops in 2003, and then the American Guardsmen who served in that area after the invasion and confirmed exposure to DU contamination after coming back home by Dr. Drakovic.
9- Intentional continuous use of DU against the people and environment of Iraq is a crime against humanity due to its undifferentiated harmful health impacts on civilian long times after the military operations. Existing DU contamination in the surrounding environment is a continuous source of (LLR) exposure to civilians which can be considered systematic attacks on civilians in an armed conflict. Article 4 of the official regulations and Article 7 of the ICC.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/depleted-uranium-haunts-kosovo-and-iraq/3715
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0113-01.htm
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0515/p01s02-woiq.html
http://umrc.net/
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tl;dr:
DU ammunition slowly poisons the middle east, and could kill millions on the long run. (Hundrets of years)
It should be considered a weapon of mass destruction.
Its not the Shell itself but the dust resolving from the explosion wich could cause harm by breathing it.
Sorry for my bad english writing skills if anyone has time to correct me i am happy to update this anytime.
I think this stuff needs more recognition and since some institution try to cover it up i hope this reaches some people
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GrandInquisitor
New York City13113 Posts
This is all Terran's fault. Did they never stop to think about the environmental impact of their U-238 upgrades?
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depleted uranium doesn't get talked about much in America. I am hoping some people knowledgeable about it and military affairs chime in with their thoughts.
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OPs post is großly exaggerated,natural Uranium has a decay time of 4,5 billion years, which means its radioactivity is incredibly low over a short period of time. depleted Uranium is even less radioactive.
The main health concerns are heavy metal poisoning , which you also have in any other usable metal for armor penetrating rounds.
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This weapons probably cause most of "the gulf war syndrome", and the children of them are often genetecally defected, so it not only targets the enemys it also affects the own soldier who come in contact with those weapons.
Unsubstantiated, misleading statement. Even a short survey shows that the proven linked causes are Pyridostigmine (antidote, nerve agents) and some organophosphonate compounds. Considering that your boogeyman is only a suspected cause, leaping from that to a probable leading cause in the effects is fantasy.
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OP made several mistakes.(to not call it blantant lies)
Uranium is both radiocative and toxic. Its toxicity is much bigger issue than radioactivity.
There are studies claiming that using that kind of amunition can be hamrfull, but there are also studies claiming it has negligable effects.
The sentence about million deaths is taken out of nowhere. Nothing suggests that. As far as i am awere of there is no single proven case of death as result of use of DU (not counting those killed by bullets of course), not to mention millions.
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Oh look its the daily thread from a non american about a severely exaggerated problem the US is some how causing.
User was temp banned for this post.
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Is there another material that is as effective for piercing armor and as cost efficient?
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The half life of this stuff is pretty outrageous. Looks like world police is pretty corrupted.
On March 19 2013 02:31 GrandInquisitor wrote:
This is all Terran's fault. Did they never stop to think about the environmental impact of their U-238 upgrades?
This is actually a good one.
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On March 19 2013 03:21 Ettick wrote:
Is there another material that is as effective for piercing armor and as cost efficient?
Tungsten, usually alloyed with nickel and iron or cobalt to form heavy alloys, is used in kinetic energy penetrators as an alternative to depleted uranium, in applications where uranium's radioactivity is problematic, or where uranium's additional pyrophoric properties are not required (for example, in ordinary small arms bullets designed to penetrate body armor).
Other than that, I don't know that there are alternatives. Bear in mind I'm not an expert on munitions, but from my limited knowledge Uranium and Tungsten are the highest-end there is for the time being.
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My dad lives in Iraq, and he says there are often dust storms and the city officials have warned about radiation during the dust storms.
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There have been more than 200 Italian Soldiers that have devoleped sickness due to the imploiment of DU in the Kosovo war. And the goverment still refuses to take responisibility over those actions. Fucking wars. Intellingent bombes but stupid people trowing them
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On March 19 2013 03:33 MasterOfPuppets wrote:Show nested quote +On March 19 2013 03:21 Ettick wrote:
Is there another material that is as effective for piercing armor and as cost efficient? Show nested quote +
Tungsten, usually alloyed with nickel and iron or cobalt to form heavy alloys, is used in kinetic energy penetrators as an alternative to depleted uranium, in applications where uranium's radioactivity is problematic, or where uranium's additional pyrophoric properties are not required (for example, in ordinary small arms bullets designed to penetrate body armor).
Other than that, I don't know that there are alternatives. Bear in mind I'm not an expert on munitions, but from my limited knowledge Uranium and Tungsten are the highest-end there is for the time being.
I was reading the wiki article on DU and came across this claim, although the source link is dead. If it's true the tungsten might be worse. According to 2005 research,[32] at least some of the most promising tungsten alloys that have been considered as replacement for depleted uranium in penetrator ammunitions, such as tungsten-cobalt or tungsten-nickel-cobalt alloys, also possess extreme carcinogenic properties, which by far exceed those (confirmed or suspected) of depleted uranium itself: 100% of rats implanted with a pellet of such alloys developed lethal rhabdomyosarcoma within a few weeks.
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Thanks for reminding me of this topic and compelling me to watch more videos on it. It should be talked about more. If there are residual effects, there's nothing like some irony of going after a country over some "WMD's" just to subject them to some, when they didn't have any to begin with.
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Basicly DU is almost half as radioactive as regular uranium, not bad? It's still a toxic heavy metal that is rendered in to dust sized particles as the ammo explodes and continues to wreak havoc in the area.
"The environmental consequences of its residue will be felt for thousands of years"
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jat.841/abstract
also affects the brain & behavior
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892036204001321
I dont think anyone in the military intented to poison civilians. Rather this all shows how ignorant we generally are about toxification of the soil and water from indrusty and agriculture because of ignorance and of the landscape amnesia.
See a stream of water? dont dare to drink from it because dont know if it will kill you? In Finland there are recommendations on how much fish we can consume from nearby seas/lakes because they accumalate harmfull contentrations of toxins in their bodies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creeping_normalcy
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I'm not sure what the gripe is here. It's war, people are going to die, and poisonous substances are likely to enter the environment. If you want a serious concern for areas ravaged by recent wars, go after abandoned land mines and other active ordinances that find themselves strewn across the countryside. That's a much better use of resources than chasing after some highly questionable claims that prey more on people's fear and lack of understanding of elements (and science) than legitimate dangers.
These populations are probably more at risk from asbestos than uranium radiation.
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On March 19 2013 02:50 Irratonalys wrote:
OPs post is großly exaggerated,natural Uranium has a decay time of 4,5 billion years, which means its radioactivity is incredibly low over a short period of time. depleted Uranium is even less radioactive.
The main health concerns are heavy metal poisoning , which you also have in any other usable metal for armor penetrating rounds.
I think you might have meant something different than what you wrote. Uranium's half-life of 4.5 billion years means it remains highly radioactive for an extremely long period of time. The DoD has said that DU has about 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, but the sun will die before DU becomes insignificantly radioactive.
However, I agree that DU is not uniquely dangerous or anything. It's not very radioactive. The effects of radiation from DU have not been substantiated, but direct exposure is, of course, toxic, but less so than heavy metals.
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I'm not sure what the gripe is here. It's war, people are going to die, and poisonous substances are likely to enter the environment
You might not understand it, but it's NOT war anymore. And people still suffer. You get it now?
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On March 19 2013 04:24 Demonhunter04 wrote:Show nested quote +On March 19 2013 02:50 Irratonalys wrote:
OPs post is großly exaggerated,natural Uranium has a decay time of 4,5 billion years, which means its radioactivity is incredibly low over a short period of time. depleted Uranium is even less radioactive.
The main health concerns are heavy metal poisoning , which you also have in any other usable metal for armor penetrating rounds. I think you might have meant something different than what you wrote. Uranium's half-life of 4.5 billion years means it remains highly radioactive for an extremely long period of time. The DoD has said that DU has about 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, but the sun will die before DU becomes insignificantly radioactive. However, I agree that DU is not uniquely dangerous or anything. It's not very radioactive. The effects of radiation from DU have not been substantiated, but direct exposure is, of course, toxic, but less so than heavy metals.
What he's getting at is if it takes 4.5 billion years for half of an amount of Uranium to decay, the amount that decays over a given short period of time is relatively minor.
Whether 'relatively minor' for Uranium is still a hazard is an entirely different matter.
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Just some facts that are probably worth adding to the discussion here:
Alpha decay (the decay mode that U238 undergoes) is not actually dangerous if the parent nucleus is outside of the body. An alpha particle will only travel a few centimeters through air, and will not penetrate paper/clothing/oil on your skin/etc. However, if you inhale an alpha emitter into your lungs or ingest it, then it can travel far enough inside of your body (through several layers of cells) to cause significant damage.
You could stand next to a massive brick of U238 and be just fine, but if you inhaled dust containing U238, you could be in for some serious health issues down the road.
A mole of Uranium (238g) will emit about 3 million alpha particles per second. The direction those travel in is random.
Sources: my background knowledge. I'm a chemistry Ph.D student and I've taken courses in radiochemistry/gotten certified on handling radiological materials/radiation safety, etc.
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EPT
