RE: DU

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>]

Case in point.  A number of years ago there was a

story about one Navy ship accidently firing at another

with the point defense system See

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/factfile/weapons/wep-phal.html

One man was killed and the other had his arm torn off.

 The question posed to the medical people at our

command was "what about the DU in the wound?"  We were

dumbfounded by their concern.



By the way, the Navy is getting away from the use of

DU rounds, and going to tungsten.  The reason is that

the rounds are frequently stored in lockers adjacent

to crews berthing areas.  Space is tight on many

ships.  Over time, the is a buildup of decay products

that emit photons capable of penetrate the bulkheads. 

There are many regulatory guides state radiation

sources would not irradiate living areas.



Also, DU is not really needed to stop an incoming

cruise missle.  They are not armoured.  All you need

to do is tear up their fuselage or wings so they loose

aerodynmaic stability and start tubbling.





--- Doug Aitken <daitken@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com>

wrote:

> At 12:32 PM 9/11/2003 -0400, NIXON, Grant (Kanata)

> wrote:

> >...........For example, one could easily argue that

> inhaling a 

> >highly-concentrated plume of DU dust (e.g.,

> following a hit) arguably 

> >presents SOME degree of hazard.

> 

> A layman's comments:

> I think that any person in a position to inhale a

> plume of DU dust from a 

> "hit" might have some other hazards of major

> significance to worry 

> about........ given the amount of kinetic energy

> involved.....

> 

> As has been stated before, and IMHO, the other

> hazards of the battlefield 

> environment make the DU "hazard" really not worth

> quantifying.

> 

> As an aside, don't forget that every puff of a

> cigarette also introduces 

> uranium to your lungs...........

> Funny that this has not caught the interest of the

> press

> 

> Maybe cigarettes should be brought under the "WMD

> umbrella"....

> ;~)

> Doug





=====

"May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion." 



Dwight D. Eisenhower  



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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