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Re DU source and Gulf Illness
Bob, In response to your reply to me, if reactor DU is used in
weapon/missiles, is it possible that some radioactive impurity could
fractionate out after the explosion and be concentrated enough so that
it might be the cause of the Gulf illness? Or could Quality Assurance
have slipped up in some batches so impurities could be present at
greater than ppb? Could the Gulf locations where the reactor DU was
exploded be distinguished from the non reactor DU locations to see if
there is a correlation between illness in areas where the reactor DU was
used and where the non reactor DU was used? This is a long shot but
nothing else has worked so far to explain the Gulf illnesses. Richard
Lessler
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 15:51:02 EDT
From: BobCherry@AOL.COM
Subject: Re: DU Source
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In a message dated 4/9/2003 1:01:13 PM Central Daylight Time,
Lessler.Richard@epamail.epa.gov writes:
> What is the source of the depleted uranium used in the
weapons/missiles?
> Is it the remains of the uranium after U-235 is removed in which case
it
> should not cause any radiation problem? Or is it from the U-238 that
> has been irradiated in a reactor to produce plutonium?
The DU that DOD uses comes from both DOE's enrichment facilities and its
reactors. The amount of Tc-99 and transuranics in the DU is on the order
of
parts per billion, which increases its radioactivity by less than one
percent. Note that the transuranics have virtually the same chemical
properties as uranium. Therefore, this trace contamination has no
measurable
effect on DU's chemical and radiological toxicities.
Bob C
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