RE: DU (Depleted Uranium)

From: Vandergraaf, Chuck (vandergraaft@aecl.ca)
Date: Sat Feb 24 2001 - 11:03:46 EST

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    Charles,
     
    I doubt if the alphas from U-238 would create much of a radiological hazard.
    As you pointed out, the half life of U-238 is very long and, therefore, the
    disintegration rate is very low. It is unlikely that any appreciable amount
    of radiogenic Pb would be formed in one's body during one's lifetime. My
    guess is that, if there is a link between DU and some disease, it must be
    due to the chemical toxicity of uranium. However, to my knowledge, the
    uranium body burden in soldiers returning from the Gulf War and from Bosnia
    is quite low.
     
    One must keep in mind that the veterans from these wars were inoculated with
    vaccines, exposed to the toxic materials from the oil fires set by Iraq,
    possibly exposed to toxic materials in Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo, and
    suffered from stress during and after these campaigns. All these may have
    contributed to the medical problems that are now becoming evident.
     
    One can make a case for classifying the use of DU as chemical warfare. What
    I would really like to see if a world-wide legislation that would require a
    full environmental impact statement (EIS) before a war is started (I say
    this with a bit of 'tongue in cheek' but also with some degree of
    seriousness). We require an EIS in Canada and the US when we want to build
    dams or build nuclear reactors.
     
    Chuck Vandergraaf
     

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Charles Carrigan [mailto:cwcarrig@umich.edu]
    Sent: Friday February 23, 2001 4:40 PM
    To: John W Burgeson; American Scientific Affiliation
    Subject: Re: DU (Depleted Uranium)

    Burgy,

    There are three isotopes of U (238, 235, 234), all are radioactive and decay
    to daughter isotopes. 238U is a long lived radioactive isotope, and decays
    through quite a long daughter sequence and eventually ends up as stable
    206Pb. The half life is ~4.5 billion years, essentially the age of the
    earth. It makes up ~99% of all U, because the half-lives of 235 and 234 are
    much shorter. 234U is actually produced in the decay of 238U as one of the
    daughters in the decay series.
    Other products can be produced I believe in reactors, though I'm unfamiliar
    with the process.

    I have no understanding of what "Depleted Uranium" would be. Depleted in
    what? "Concentrated Uranium" sounds more like what is described.

    Bullets made of U would certainly pose health hazards if the material were
    placed into your body through food contamination, bullets, inhalation, dust
    on your skin, etc. The radioactive decay produces gamma rays, alpha
    particles (He nuclei), which can cause damage to cells and to DNA, not to
    mention the Pb daughter product, dangerous to organisms in its own regard as
    a heavy metal. These kinds of things should be classified as chemical
    warfare if they aren't already. I find it quite disturbing that these
    things would be used in warfare, and the claim that the US has used these
    things within the US is disturbing enough to be difficult to believe. I'd
    like to find out if the story has any credibility.

    Yours,
    Charles

    At 01:15 PM 2/23/01 -0700, you wrote:

    I was at a meeting yesterday where the subject was the US sanctions on
    Iraq (the speaker, of course, was against them). Much of what he had to
    say made a lot of sense; some did not.

    In a leaflet he distributed and talked about was a description of what
    was called "Depleted Uranium," (DU), which was also identified as the
    isotope U-238. Included were all sorts of claims about it, claims which I
    do not see as credible. But my physics career is too far remote now in
    time for me to fairly judge these claims; perhaps someone here might
    comment on them.

    These are the claims, as extracted from somewhat more volitile phrases in
    the leaflet:

    1. The US used DU munitions in Iraq, Kuwait, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia,
    Puerto Rico, Okinawa and within the US.

    2. Thousands of individuals have been exposed (to what?) ...

    3. DU is a health hazard if inhaled, ingested, or gets in wounds.

    4. Respiratory and skin protection must be worn by everyone within 80
    feet of DU contaminated equipment.

    5. DU contamination makes water & food unusable.

    6. DU is made from the non-fissionable byproduct of the uranium
    enrichment process.

    7. DU is used in munitions, shielding and commercial concrete.

    8. DU munitions are solid U-238 (several examples given).

    9. Upon impact, radioactive and heavy metal poison U-238 fragments &
    oxides are created.

    10. Reported health effects (official DOD document, not identified)
    include (long list of diseases).

    11. Doing nothing wall leave "thousands of radioactive heavy metal poison
    bullets" around.

    The article is written by a Doug Rome, Ph.D., who is identified as a
    former ODS (?) health physicist and a former Army DU Project director.

    If U-238 is a stable isotope, as I always thought it was, then whence
    comes the radioactivity? And while I'm fairly sure that ground up U-238
    powder is probably not good to inhale, is it really a poison? That is, is
    it worse than, for instance, an equal amount of West Texas dust?

    The anti-sanctions movement seems to me to be a good one to support. But
    these claims, which seem wild to me, don't give me any confidence in the
    rest of their message.

    Comments appreciated.

    Burgy (John Burgeson)

    www.burgy.50megs.com <http://www.burgy.50megs.com/>

    <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><<>< <>< <>< <><
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    Charles W. Carrigan
    Univ. of Michigan - Department of Geological Sciences
    2534 C.C. Little Bldg.
    425 E. University Ave.
    Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1063
    cwcarrig@umich.edu

    "There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale
    returns of conjecture
    out of such a trifling investment of fact."
    - Mark Twain
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