[ RadSafe ] Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat -NIH research

[farbersa at optonline.net]

Hi all:
Regarding the statement by James Salsman that tungsten alloy antitank rounds are not pyrophoric and therefore of little hazard to soldiers vs. DU, it should be noted that the protective armor on the Abrams tanks consist of multiple layers of depleted uranium between steel sheets. I assume tanks being attacked by US forces have similar depleted uranium armor. Anyone know if this is so??

So when a 102 mm antitank shell hits a tank armored with DU,  I would think the resultant airborne particulate loading is roughly similar as far as DU for both DU rounds and tungsten alloy rounds [due to the effect of the round on the DU armor shields]. The exception is  that tungsten rounds likely results in airborne tungsten dusts and shrapnel not seen with the DU round alone.

Stewart Farber
===============
----- Original Message -----
From: James Salsman <james at bovik.org>
Date: Wednesday, June 1, 2005 4:46 pm
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat -NIH research

> Stewart Farber wrote:
> 
> > Regarding the long-running depleted U issue health risk thread, 
> see the  
> > recently published research summary about tungsten alloy 
> munitions [a  
> > suggested "benign alternative" to depleted U] and tungsten's 
> unexpected  
> > health threats....
> 
> Tungsten isn't pyrophoric, so it doesn't doesn't produce inhalable
> vapors and dust when used as uranium does, and thus isn't likely to
> be a wide-ranging hazard to soldiers and civilians as uranium is.
> Shrapnel wounds are a risk, but less so overall.
> 
> Sincerely,
> James Salsman
> 
> > The intro paragraph and link is given below.
> > 
> > Tungsten Alloy Munitions Pose Unforeseen Threat
> > In response to concerns about the human and environmental health 
> effects  
> > of materials used to produce munitions, countries including the 
> United  
> > States have begun replacing some lead- and depleted uranium-
> based  
> > munitions with alternatives made of a tungsten alloy. But this 
> solution  
> > may not be the "magic bullet" it was once envisioned to be. 
> Researchers  
> >  from the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute and the 
> Walter Reed  
> > Army Institute of Research now report that weapons-grade 
> tungsten alloy  
> > produces aggressive metastatic tumors when surgically implanted 
> into the  
> > muscles of rats [EHP 113:729-734]. These findings raise new 
> questions  
> > about the possible consequences of tungsten exposure, and 
> undermine the  
> > view that tungsten alloy is a nontoxic alternative to depleted 
> uranium and  
> > lead.
> > 
> > http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2005/113-6/ss.html#noma
> 
> 
>