http://www.antenna.nl/wise/uranium/rup.html With a half life of 10^9 years it seems ionizing radiation is not the toxic mechanism for U238. I think uranium is one of those metals that is extremely toxic to certain tissue, ie renal cells, and exhibits toxity on a par with mercury. As for lung particles alpha are far worse, biologically approx 10^2 due to hot particle phenomena -- the penetration is poor so the statistical odds of multiple hits is increased.
As for the pyrophoric reaction most of it could be eliminated by using aluminum armor instead of steel. The real solution would be the ban of DU for any use. Tungsten could be used instead. I would like to know what effect U238 is having in New York. Those 2 jets had several thousand pounds of it incorporated into control surfaces (counterweights). Kirk --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > The fact that depleted uranium is absorbed in "soil and groundwater" > is not so significant as those submicron particles absorbed in lung tissue, > which remain in the aviola portion of the lung. > > I have not heard this source of radioactive contamination, and the resulting > hazard, mentioned with the DU hazard. But I question why this would not be > the the most significant hazard since the submicron particles get in the > lower lung, stay there, and continuously emit alpha and beta particles which > penetrate the soft tissue and are highly damaging. However, it is, in the > accompanying article, as if don't worry about it unless you ingest it from eating > and drinking. > > Lung ingestion was the hazard I was most concerned with years ago at the Oak > Ridge National Laboratory when as a chemical engineer I developed a > chemical process involving thorium, and having a sub-micron by product of thorium > oxide particles. > > Imagine this much sub-micron uranium oxide materal, as below, floating > around in the environment, doing damage not only to the lung tissues of soldiers > but to the general Iraqi population. Makes you wonder if this hazard was ever > assessed as a health physics problem. > > It is the immediate effects of radioactive contamination which appear to be > described in the article below. The long term effects, which I was concerned > about from lung ingestion while working with sub micron particles of thorium > dioxide some 40 years ago, were carcinogenic, where cancer develops, say, 20 > years after ingestion. That question needs to be asked about these DU sub > micron particles. As I recollect, in that the Dept of Energy possess the > necessary health physics capabilities to provide the answers. > > Glenn Ellis > > The article follows: > > It's a year into the occupation and U.S. troops are being killed at a > rate of more than four a day. These deaths from roadside bombs, suicide > attackers, anti-U.S. militia and mobs of angry civilians make > headlines. > > More quietly, American soldiers also are beginning to suffer injuries > from a silent and pernicious weapon material of U.S. origin-depleted > uranium (DU). > > DU weaponry is fired by U.S. troops from the Abrams battle tank, A- 10 > Warthog and other systems. It is pyrophoric, burning spontaneously on > impact, and extremely dense, making DU munitions ideal for penetrating > anenemy's tank armor or reinforced bunker. It also is the toxic and > radioactive byproduct of enriched uranium, the fissile material in > nuclear weapons. > > When a DU shell hits its target, it burns, losing anywhere from 40 > percent to 70 percent of its mass and dispersing a fine toxic radioactive > dust that can be carried long distances by winds or absorbed into the > soil and groundwater. > > The U.S. Army and Air Force have fired 127 tons of DU munitions in Iraq in > the last year, says Michael Kilpatrick, the Pentagon's director of the > Deployment Health Support Directorate. > > At the beginning of April-the deadliest month of the war and occupation > so far-a New York Daily News investigation found that four National > Guardsmen have been contaminated by radioactive dust. > > The men were part of the 442nd Military Police Company based in > Orangeburg, New York, which went to Iraq last summer to guard convoys > andprisons and train the new Iraqi police. While the whole company is due > back in the United States by the end of April, a number of soldiers > were sent home early, suffering from persistent headaches and fatigue, > nausea and dizziness, joint pain and excessive urination. > > They sought medical attention and testing from the Army but were > ignored. > > Nine of the returned soldiers, frustrated with this treatment, sought > independent testing and examination from a uranium expert contracted by > the New York Daily News. The independent expert's tests showed four of > the soldiers had high levels of depleted uranium in their systems. > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Yahoo! 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