Open hatches and HEAT

[Damian90]

In 1991 ODS there was opinions that DU was responsible for some health threats for soldiers, in fact there were many other dangerous substansions used on battlefield, but DU was easy to indictment about health threat to soldiers and civilians. Funny, in 2003 there were no reports about soldiers with health problems from DU. Did You ever heard about soldiers in US making claims that they got health problems because of DU ammo, and they are exposed to it on life fire exercices with combat ammo.

Eh... understand that DU is not so radioactive as some sources claims, the real threat is only that, it is heavy metal, toxic for us... funny that there are no such reports about tungsten alloy ammo, tungsten is also heavy metal, toxic for us (and certainly not good for our health).

[dan/california]

The army just announced it is staying with DU for the next generation of penetrators. They cite a continuing performance advantage and toxicity problems with tungsten that are not a lot better than DU.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/12/army-again-turns-to-depleted-uranium-for-new-weaponry/#more-20408

[Vergeltungswaffe]

You need to be more concerned about having a cell phone up to your head on a regular basis than any of this.

[Homo ferricus]

You need to be more concerned about having a cell phone up to your head on a regular basis than any of this.

Pretty much.

[flamingknives]

flamingknives,

It confirms what I said about how DU enters the body, states it's both radioactive ( a point Damian90 disputes) and toxic. It also addresses where the DU concentrates in the body, such as the kidneys.

... and then goes on to note that the likelihood of inhaling or otherwise ingesting enough particulate DU is unlikely except in the immediate vicinity in time and space of a strike by a DU penetrator.

Interestingly, a lot of GIs who claim DU exposure injuries have big time kidney issues. I tried to provide a range of information sources, rather than only providing that which served my argument. The IAEA seemed like a logical group to include in the information array.

Regards,

John Kettler

It also collects in the lungs, so should we conclude that it is DU and not, for the sake of example, cigarettes, that cause lung cancer? There was a whole heap of rubbish floating around during GW1, any one of which could be responsible.

Damian90 may have been reacting to the usual uninformed prattle that the radioactivity of DU is particularly significant as a lethal mechanism. Remember that English is not his first language. The IAEA supports this as it notes that sustained contact with solid DU is unlikely to cause radiation injury, although gloves would be a sensible precaution to avoid inadvertently ingesting the heavy metal, although most DU-base AP ammunition encapsulates the DU in some other lighter metal.

[YankeeDog]

Being worried about radiation poisoning from ingesting or inhaling DU dust is like worrying about smoke inhalation damage if you're stuck on a burning airplane plummeting from the sky.

Yes, it is a little bit radioactive. And if you ingest or inhale enough of it, the radiation would probably cause you serious injury eventually. But the amount required to create a likelihood of significant effects from radiation poisoning is probably going to cripple or kill you via heavy metal toxicity long before any effects from radiation show.

As noted, since it's an alpha emitter, effects from just being in close proximity to to DU (as opposed to ingesting or inhaling it) are considerably less. Theoretically, if you slept in box made of DU every night, you would eventually see some effects. But it would take quite a long exposure. And even a light barrier like heavy clothing or a good coat of paint would block most of the alpha rays.

But for anyone getting repeated exposure especially to DU dust, such as units tasked to clean up anything hit by DU, protection should absolutely be a concern. One of the things that makes heavy metal toxins so nasty is that your body has a very hard time getting rid of them. Ever. So toxicity ingestion or inhalation is effectively cumulative. But again, the primary concern here is the heavy metal toxicity, not the radiation. You'd want to take similar precautions if your job put you in frequent contact with fine dust of any of a variety of other metals, including lead and tungsten.

[Michael Emrys]

I have to wonder how much Gulf War Syndrome is due to the very heavy pollution that resulted from the oil wells being set on fire by the Iraqis as they retreated. Not only were soldiers breathing it, but it rained on the battlefield during one or more of the days that the ground war was ongoing. Soldiers reported a black gooey coating on themselves and their vehicles. Doesn't sound like the kind of thing one would want to be trooping around in.

Michael