[ RadSafe ] "The Depleted Uranium Scam" Hawaii

[Muckerheide, Jim (CDA)]

Friends,

The technical basis of this article on the "DU Scam" is better than
average.  See the intro content below.

See the full article at:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?2d7e8772-ac5c-4721-8f4a-8e9b92f
79ab4 

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
=====================

HB 1452: The Depleted Uranium Scam
Special from Hawaii Free Press
By Andrew Walden, 4/1/2007 7:34:51 PM 
Uranium is everywhere. The average person has over one microgram of
uranium for every two pounds of body weight, according to the University
of Michigan (UM) Health Physics Society. People daily eat on average 1.9
micrograms of uranium in their food. The oceans are so full of uranium
that the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute is experimenting with
technologies to extract it from the Kuroshio Current which is estimated
to annually carry 5.2 million tons of suspended uranium flowing past the
east coast of Taiwan and Japan. Unlike depleted uranium, the natural
uranium in the food supply, the oceans and in human bodies is not
depleted of its' radioactive isotope, U-235. 
Should people be concerned? Yes, but not because of eating fish caught
from our naturally-uranium-filled oceans. The real danger is that this
naturally occurring uranium is being used in Hawaii by anti-Americans as
a weapon against the United States armed forces. House Bill 1452, now
wending its way through the state Senate, is the tool. It would require
"the department of health to take soil samples within 500 meters of
Schofield Barracks to assess for depleted uranium, at least once every 3
months, and annually report to the legislature." 
The problem? They are guaranteed to find uranium in the soil around
Schofield; it is everywhere in Hawaii--by nature. The result will be
used to falsely accuse the military of spreading uranium through the
environment. This false conclusion will in turn enlist the State of
Hawaii in the fake "DU" scare to disarm our troops of one of their most
effective armaments-depleted uranium ammunition-while at war. Armed
forces from as many as 35 countries have used DU weapons, including
Saddam's Iraqi forces, Russia, China, Britain, France, Israel, Turkey,
Egypt, Kuwait and Taiwan. 
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Natural uranium contains on average 0.71% radioactive U-235 and 99.28%
U-238. US Department of Defense processing of natural uranium to extract
the U-235 for nuclear power or nuclear weapons leaves depleted uranium
containing only 0.2% U-235 and 99.8% U-238. While U-235 is the highly
radioactive material found in atom bombs or nuclear power plants, U-238
emits zero radiation. Far from being a radiation danger, depleted
uranium is actually used as a radiation shield around nuclear reactors
on Navy ships, submarines and in civilian reactors. 
According to Marvin H. Wilkening of the Department of Physics, New
Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, the soils of Hawai`i
naturally contain trace amounts of uranium which release just under one
atom of radon gas per square centimeter every two seconds. This is why
realtors are required to warn homebuyers of radon dangers. The
University of Michigan researchers estimate that nationwide an average
of 4840 pounds-more than two tons-- of uranium is present in the top one
foot of soil per square mile (also 26,400 lbs of radioactive thorium).
If Hawai`i soils are average, over 31 million pounds of uranium (and 170
million pounds of thorium) are present in the top foot of soil state
wide -all entirely natural.
<continued:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?2d7e8772-ac5c-4721-8f4a-8e9b92f
79ab4