62. Ban the Use of Depleted Uranium Munitions: Depleted uranium is a waste product of the nuclear enrichment process in making nuclear weapon grade uranium. Depleted uranium is 1.7 times more dense than lead, making it ideal for weapons. When a DU monition impacts a hard target, the DU burns through at high temperatures producing very fine radioactive dust particles. DU is used as a penetrator in amour piercing tank rounds and bullets. The heat of the DU impact and secondary fires means that much of the dust produced is ceramic, and remain in the lungs for years if inhaled. Institute of Nuclear Technology-Radiation Protection of Attiki, Greece has noted that “the aerosol produced during impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites or can be inhaled by civilians and military personnel.” (Mitsakou, 2003) The half-life of DU is 4.5 billion years. Any environment where it is used as a weapon will remain radioactive forever. “DU shells and bullets left in or on the ground have been found to have lost 25% of their mass by dissolving and are now contaminating groundwater.” (Moret, 2003) More than three thousand tons of depleted uranium munitions have been used in Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts.
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The legality test for weapons under international law requires that weapons must pass the following four tests:
a. Temporal Test: Weapons must not continue to act after the battle is over
b. Environmental Test: Weapons must not be unduly harmful to the environment
c. Territorial Test: Weapons must not act off of the battlefield
d. Humaneness Test: Weapons must not kill or wound inhumanely
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Depleted uranium weaponry fails all four tests; therefore, it is illegal under all treaties, all agreements, and all war conventions. (Moret, 2003)
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From natural background radiation, the typical person gets about 100 millirems of radiation a year, but if your exposed to places where depleted uranium was used, you can easily experience upwards to 200 millirems of radiation per hour. This level of radiation exposure is likened to getting a chest x-ray every few minutes. (Poison Dust, 2008) Depleted uranium is primarily an alpha and gamma radiation emitter. Alpha radiation can be blocked by tissue paper, but since it is easily blocked, all of its energy is deposited in the nearby tissue. Since, depleted uranium has a very long half life, any particle of it that is ingested or breathed in; it never stops radiating alpha radiation. Gamma radiation is very hard to shield, even if it is encased in lead, some of the radiation still comes through.
Comments (4)
This has got to be one of the dumbest ideas I have ever heard.
Not only do you want to tie one hand behind our back by refusing to use proven low-risk, high effectiveness armament... but you're actually worried about the personnel in a target tank getting a minuscule dose of radiation as their tank is ripped apart by munitions!
Think before posting! Besides... international law DOESN'T APPLY!!! We are a sovereign nation and deserve to conduct ourselves as such.
You, me, everyone on this earth is living in a closed ecosystem, meaning if you defecate on the other side of the world, the particles you left will eventually be spread to the entirety of the world. Admittedly, this takes a very long time, longer than our human minds can conceive, but it is a fact. With the release of thousands of tons of fine dust depleted uranium with a half life of 4.5 million years, in the short term it makes life where it was released almost not worth living. Having children with high potential to be born disfigured or stillborn due to depleted uranium contaminated food and water, is not the legacy that I as a citizen of a free country would want to instill in a society as singular minded as Islam’s and Muslims. If your goal is to perpetuate hate then this current path of irradiating other countries with radioactive waste will fulfill that potential. There is absolutely nothing honorable with the use of depleted uranium munitions.
It is not a fact, it is just your assertion.
Btw, if I "defecate" on the earth... it acts as fertilizer, and provides plants with nutrients. Why are "greens" so ignorant about the earth and ecosystems?
b. Depleted uranium only has 60% of naturally occurring uranium IN THE ENVIRONMENT.
You need to do some real research. Dust released from some rounds of depleted uranium, spread over a large area (like you assert), will allow for very little concentration... and thus would be barely noticeable. Your logic works against you.
“Poison Dust” U.S. soldiers are returning from Iraq to die from depleted uranium dust contamination. Produced March 9, 2008 Link:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8199922330478323814&ei=AP_sSd2uCI70-wGZzeXfDw&q=Poison+Dust
Begin your education here.