ARMY SEEKS TO AVOID CLEAN-UP OF DEPLETED URANIUM TEST-FIRED IN THE USA

[Orwellian_Ghost]

Pentagon Dirty Bombers: Depleted Uranium in the USA

By Dave Lindorff
The Public Record
Oct 26th, 2009

The Nuclear Regulator Commission will hold hearings tomorrow and Wednesday in Hawaii on an application by the US Army for a permit to have depleted uranium at its Pohakuloa Training Area, a vast stretch of flat land in what’s called the “saddle” between the sacred mountains of Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island, and at the Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu.

In fact, what the Army is asking for is a permit to leave in place the DU left over from years of test firing of M101 mortar “spotting rounds,” that each contained close to half a pound of depleted uranium (DU). The Army, which originally denied that any DU weapons had been used at either location, now says that as many as 2000 rounds of M101 DU mortars might have been fired at Pohakuloa alone.

But that’s only a small part of the story.

The Army is actually seeking a master permit from the NRC to cover all the sites where it has fired DU weapons, including penetrator shells that, unlike the M101, are designed to hit targets and burn on impact, turning the DU in the warhead into a fine dust of uranium oxide.

...

http://pubrecord.org/nation/5860/pentagon-dirty-bombers-depleted-uranium/

[AnOhioan]

1. But to listen to some here on DU...the stuff is perfectly harmless

[TheWraith]

2. No, we just believe in SCIENCE instead of "OMG, uranium!!1 Nuclear bomb11!"

Uranium is a heavy metal roughly half as toxic as lead. However, much of the stuff that's said about depleted uranium is incredibly false and misleading, including most of the stuff Lindorff says. He doesn't fact check his articles AT ALL, and in fact just repeats complete rumors off the internet that could be disproved just by checking Wikipedia.

[ret5hd]

13. Well then YOU volunteer to store a lump of it in your sock drawer.

Just keep it away from the rest of us. K? thnx.

[TheWraith]

14. I'd be happy to.

Since depleted uranium poses no real health risk unless it gets inside your body, that's fine.

[Canuckistanian]

3. Hey, that's right. It IS "dirty bombing"

It just hit me. After all, what's a dirty bomb but radioactive material scattered by an explosion?

And America's been doing it to Iraq since the first Gulf War.

Sounds like those firing ranges should be declared disaster areas.

[Confusious]

4. It's not radioactive to any dangerous level

It is however, a heavy metal and toxic.

Probably about or worse then the Mercury that pollutes the lakes and rivers of the US.

[PDJane]

5. That's misleading as hell, you know.

Yeah, as a metal, it's heavy and toxic....and yes, mercury is toxic too. Mercury presents its own problems, being the only mutagen known to jump the placental barrier and concentrate in the foetus. That's how they knew that women were pregnant in Minimata; the women who tested lower than the general population were pregnant.

However, that's not quite the point with DU, and I have to assume that you know this.

The stuff is dangerous as hell when atomized, and it is atomized as soon as it hits the target. It's an incendiary weapon, leaves radioactive particles all over the damn place, contaminates air and water and lasts essentially forever. It's not safe. It never has been safe, and the military damn well knew it wasn't safe and couldn't be made so. The death rates and birth defects of offspring in Gulf War I vets is proof, if nothing else is. Don't give out half the truth, and tell me it's safe.

It isn't.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Canuckistanian]

6. However, it is one of a very few metals that can be vaporized

And that radioactivity and toxicity, however mild it is, can be readily absorbed into the body.

Lead, Uranium and mercury are toxic. U-238 in DU form, is toxic AND radioactive.

However, "The chemical toxicity of depleted uranium is about a million times greater in vivo than its radiological hazard." Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12121782

Doctors in Iraq have been reporting abnormal level of birth defects since 2003, especially in Fallujah, Baghdad, Basra and Al-Najaf, as evidenced by this Doctor's letter to the UN:
http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=6744&blz=1

DU is one of the most toxic substances known. More than lead. More than mercury. And it's being used on a regular basis in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[Confusious]

8. Well, unless I get some studies saying otherwise

I am more inclined to believe the birth defects are related to the toxicity of Uranium then the radioactivity

Uranium 238 is probably no more radioactive then background radiation that you get every day. I would be more worried about its toxicity.

I don't think we really know that much about the effects of the toxicity of uranium.

"The chemical toxicity of depleted uranium is about a million times greater in vivo than its radiological hazard."

That's what I said. It's toxicity is more dangerous then its radioactivity.

You can make a bomb from it, but people would die in days with radioactive material, years with DU.

"And it's being used on a regular basis in Iraq and Afghanistan."

And it shouldn't be.

I just get a little up in arms when people run around shouting *RADIOACTIVITY*, and that's not what you have to worry about.
People should be wearing masks, not putting on radiation suits.

[Canuckistanian]

9. Sorry if I misunderstood

Yes, the radioactivity is not the primary problem. But for all we know, it's the combination that does the damage.

Regardless, we should treat DU as if it were radioactive. It's poisonous, it doesn't break down and it's capable of being transported by air.

[Confusious]

10. NP...

I just feel a need to correct some of the pseudo-science here in favor of real science.

It seems like politics, if no one says anything, the crazies take over.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. And this is the science. Thank you!

[Orwellian_Ghost]

11. Thanks for that

[TheWraith]

15. Depleted uranium is less toxic than lead, actually. The LD50 is half that of lead.

And I seriously doubt that it's being used at all right now, since it's designed to penetrate armor, and there's no armor left.

[Canuckistanian]

17. But you can't breathe in atomized lead

That's the point of my post. Atomized DU is in the air, on the ground and in the water wherever it's used.

It's not a case of the LD50. It's the saturation of the entire environment that makes it dangerous.

[TheWraith]

18. Of course you can. That's actually a serious problem at firing ranges...

...Which is why some ranges have mandated lead-free bullets, others use bullet traps, etcetera.

In any event, depleted uranium isn't magic--it follows the same toxicity rules as any other form of heavy metal.

[ensho]

16. the military should be forced to clean up the site and everywhere else

the our military has used DU. every US military base should have a unit trained in the ways of HAZMAT to start cleaning up our very toxic bases.