North East wrote:Tiiger wrote:Stating the obvious that we won't be allowed it of course...
"Scary factor" aside... Do you know is there any special handling, storage shielding etc. required for it?
How "depleted" is depleted exactly?
One of the issues (as I understand it, not an expert by any means) with nuclear power is that the output required to generate power is much higher than the amount needed to kill you with exposure. Once they're finishes with the rods in power plants they don't become paperweights of course.
So where is the uranium for the rounds come from? How is it depleted?
Could we safely handle and shoot it the same way we do regular ammo?
I'm no expert on the use depleted uranium but it is a pretty controversial subject. Widely used around the world for armour piercing projectiles. USA have used it a lot in weapons systems as have other countries.
Some time ago a French racing yacht had a depleted uranium keel. It is very dense and heavy.
The effects of its use is widely debated with reports of soldiers and civilians being contaminated and poisoned by the after effects of it's use.
Better look for something else to replace the lead and not depleted uranium.
Depleted Uranium or DU is simply not as radioactive as your run of the mill Uranium 235....IT IS still radioactive, just less of the worse kind of radiationis (Gamma). Why it so effective as a penetrator - its almost twice the density of lead. Imagine your 150grain 308 projectile , same size shape volume in DU would be a 300gr bullet....
Uranium is inherently toxic just as lead is but with the radiation bonus.....
Heard of Gulf War Syndrome?? GI are getting very ill... cant work it out!!?
US Military - irradiating the middle east for almost 25 years!!Once the fuel rods are finished with in the power plants they are certainly not inert....the radioactivity in the material, whether Uranium, Plutonium or other element or isotope is considered to have a half-life, which is the time taken for the radiation to reduce/dissipate to half the original level, measured in years, from seconds to ..... THE AGE OF THE EARTH...
U235 half life is 700,000,000years!.... with the rate of reduction reducing over time, so the radiation level asymptotically approaches
towards zero....but never reaches it, yay to radiation!
Chernobyl will never be radiation free.
DU is not actually spent fuel, by the by-product of the fuel production (enrichment process) when the differing densities are used the separate the different isotopes....
No DU projjies for me thanks!
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) bullet made of Copper of the same shape would have a mass 79% of the lead example so would need to be 26% larger in volume for the equivalent mass....
