# Depleted Uranium - How dangerous is it?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 7, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095 "2003-04-07T16:41:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/1 "2003-04-07T16:41:42Z")
How dangerous is Depleted Uranium used in munitions and what effects if any does it have on the environment and people that inhabit the environment in which it’s used?
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### Author:  [@Foolonthehill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foolonthehill)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/2 "2003-04-07T17:04:03Z")
Depleted tells you one thing about it. It is not radioactive.
But it is still a heavy metal. When a bullet is fired at an armored vehicle the bullet shatters and a certain percentage becomes dust in the air. Heavy Metal dust. Imagine the number of bullets fired from a .50 cal machine gun, imagine how much dust this would create. Now imagine a firefight with multiple machine guns and armored vehicles. Soliders then breathe this.
This can’t be very good for human physiology, think what other heavy metals do to us, eg; chrome/lead.
The question seems to be; “How much is too much?”
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/3 "2003-04-07T17:10:29Z")
From the executive summary of the WHO’s 2001 report [Depleted Uranium: Sources, Exposure and Health Effects](http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/pub_meet/ir_pub/en/):
> [@](#):
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> Potentially depleted uranium has both chemical and radiological toxicity with the two important target organs being the kidneys and the lungs. Health consequences are determined by the physical and chemical nature of the depleted uranium to which an individual is exposed, and to the level and duration of exposure.
> …
> Only military use of depleted uranium is likely to have any significant impact on environmental levels. Measurements of depleted uranium at sites where depleted uranium munitions were used indicate only localized (within a few tens of metres of the impact site) contamination at the ground surface. However, in some instances the levels of contamination in food and ground water could rise after some years and should be monitored and appropriate measures taken where there is a reasonable possibility of
> significant quantities of depleted uranium entering the food chain. The WHO guidelines for drinking-water quality, 2 µg of uranium per litre, would apply to depleted uranium. Where possible clean-up operations in conflict impact zones should be undertaken where there are substantial numbers of radioactive particles remaining and depleted uranium contamination levels are deemed unacceptable by qualified experts. Areas with very high concentrations of depleted uranium may need to be cordoned off until they are cleaned up
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/4 "2003-04-07T17:11:28Z")
Well, there has not been any conclusive studies on the effects of DU, so you’ll mostly get opinions by people who: a. have an axe to grind (preferably against the US) b. try to guess with their knowledge of the area in general c. actually know what they’re talking about.
I fall into category B. Now, uranium is a heavy metal after all, but not nearly as poisonous as plutonium. Most of the uranium on the planet is in the form of U-238, with a half-life of 4.5 billion years or so, which makes it radioactive, of course, but not all that dangerous. Radiation intensity and such decreases as half-life increases, and 4+ billion years makes for a low intensity. So, I think it’s fair to say that the most dangerous part of it would be the heavy metal effect, but it’s still not dangerous as long as it doesn’t get into you. Also, unless it can then be changed into a form that will stick in your body, it should go right through and out the end.
The point is, we don’t know for sure except for some generalizations. What I would like someone to do would be to get a Geiger counter, measure the background radiation, measure the radiation coming off the DU, and then calculate the total amount of rads you’re getting and whether or not the radiation coming from the DU is lower than the background radiation.
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/5 "2003-04-07T17:55:41Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by asterion \*
> \*\*What I would like someone to do would be to get a Geiger counter, measure the background radiation, measure the radiation coming off the DU, and then calculate the total amount of rads you’re getting and whether or not the radiation coming from the DU is lower than the background radiation. \*\*
If only it were that simple. But radioactive material can also be ingested and stay inside the body for a long time, where it can do a lot more damage than through the skin. So measuring the radiation from the DU is not enough; you need to track how much of it is dispersed, how much is ingested or inhaled by people, where in the body it ends up, how long it stays there and how much damage is done.
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### Author:  [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/6 "2003-04-07T19:15:43Z")
DU is _depleted_ uranium - it is not radioactive. It’s basically just a heavy, dense material that makes excellent armor-piercing ammunition for vehicle-mounted weapons. Otherwise, **Asterion** ’s post was spot-on.
As **Asterion** said before, the “health effects” tend to be “discovered” by organizations/governments with an axe to grind against the primary users of DU ammunition, the US and NATO. The Serbs even blamed DU for causing a harsh winter…
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### Author:  [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/7 "2003-04-07T19:35:02Z")
> [@](#):
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> DU is depleted uranium - it is not radioactive.
That’s horseshit; ALL uranium is radioactive. DU is merely depleted of U-235 so that it’s less radioactive than native uranium – the remainder, U-238, has a half-life measured in billions of years instead of millions, but claiming that it’s not radioactive is considerably overstating the case.
It’s entirely possible that the heavy-metal effect dominates the danger from ingested DU, but make no mistake, even pure U-238 is a potent radiation source when it’s inside the body.
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### Author:  [@Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/8 "2003-04-07T19:43:38Z")
I was asked by a DOT cop once if I was hauling hazardous materials. I told him “No, not hazardous by the HazMat guide, but 15 tons of non Haz stuff falling on your foot can ruin your day.”
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/9 "2003-04-07T19:50:44Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by scr4 \*
> \*\*If only it were that simple. But radioactive material can also be ingested and stay inside the body for a long time, where it can do a lot more damage than through the skin. So measuring the radiation from the DU is not enough; you need to track how much of it is dispersed, how much is ingested or inhaled by people, where in the body it ends up, how long it stays there and how much damage is done. \*\*
You’re right. However, that at least would be a way to see if there is any danger while it sits intact on the ground.
More importantly, what does the metal do in the body? Without looking it up, I’d be willing to guess that most of the time it’ll go right through without absorbing.
I don’t know all the compounds uranium can make and the textbooks I have that mention any have: uranium hexafluoride (which you aren’t going to create on a battlefield), uranium tetrafluoride (ditto), other similar halide compounds, uranium oxide, and a few others, but this textbook is not a bioinorganic book but an inorganic book. There could easily be compounds that are a problem in the body, but I don’t know what they are. I might look this up. [This](http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/guide/ucompound/propertiesu/index.cfm) is a page on compounds from Argonne National Labs, and [here](http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/U/comp.html) is some info from WebElements, which I’ve found to be a good basic site.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a library nearby which has such books–most of the books dealing with uranium in my school’s library are geology books.
Something else you could use as a point of comparision would be the effects of Fiestaware. That stuff’s hot, after all, made with a uranium compound in the glazing.
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/10 "2003-04-07T21:09:45Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by asterion \*
> Without looking it up, I’d be willing to guess that most of the time it’ll go right through without absorbing.
:rolleyes:
Rather than giving us the benefit of your guess, why not examine the link I provided to the World Health Organization’s study of DU’s health and environmental effects ? The report’s just chock full of **facts** about what is known, and not known with regard to the dangers of depleted uranium.
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### Author:  [@Galena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galena)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/11 "2003-04-07T21:42:37Z")
Well, I don’t know much about depleated uranium, except the definition the Nuclear Regualatory Commission gives
URL=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/depleted-uranium.html]here :
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> Uranium having a percentage of uranium-235 smaller than the 0.7 percent found in natural uranium. It is obtained from spent (used) fuel elements or as byproduct tails, or residues, from uranium isotope separation.
For more information on radioactivity and the body, I would suggest putting down the chemistry books and seeing if you can find a book on “Health Physics” or a copy of the “Chart of Nuclides”. Those should be somewhat common library resources.
Also, even if the uranium had completely decayed, uranium does follow a chain decay reaction…meaning that the uranium might be gone, but, suprise! now you have thorium, or radium, or some else radioactive. The process continues until you get to something stable, like lead.
How much of it that “passes right through” depends on what type of uranium it is. I think something about depleated uranium, makes it more prone to stay in the body. Also, some radioactive materials have target organs, which they “seek out”. A bone seeker acts like calcium and heads for the bones, where it stays for a long time. I don’t know if Uranium is a bone seeker, but one of it’s products, radium is.
One more thing… U-238 is an alpha emitter, while U-235 emits both alphas and gammas. Alphas are dangerous only if ingested, by gammas can penetrate skin.
So my best educated guess is that you probably shouldn’t eat or breathe it, but you’d have to do quite a BUNCH of complicated calculations to figure out the exact risk to yourself.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/12 "2003-04-07T21:45:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Squink \*
> \*\*:rolleyes:
> Rather than giving us the benefit of your guess, why not examine the link I provided to the World Health Organization’s study of DU’s health and environmental effects ? The report’s just chock full of **facts** about what is known, and not known with regard to the dangers of depleted uranium. \*\*
And I was right. 98% ingested will pass right through and be excreted in feces. 2% absorption for soluble and 0.2% absorption for insoluble. 20% of inhaled will pass into bloodstream, but 70% will pass out in urine within 24 hours and 90% after a while.
Now, of course, you could stress the kidneys that way.
Okay, so which uranium compounds and complexes are soluble? I don’t know and I’ve yet to find anything that tells me.
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/13 "2003-04-07T21:52:48Z")
Some recent articles [bolding mine]:
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> Arfsten DP, Still KR, Ritchie GD. A review of the effects of uranium and depleted uranium exposure on reproduction and fetal development. Toxicol Ind Health. 2001 Jun;17(5-10):180-91. Review. [PMID: 12539863](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12539863&dopt=Abstract)
>
> Depleted uranium (DU) is used in armor-penetrating munitions, military vehicle armor, and aircraft, ship and missile counterweighting/ballasting, as well as in a number of other military and commercial applications. **Recent combat applications of DU alloy [i.e., Persian Gulf War (PGW) and Kosovo peacekeeping objective] resulted in human acute exposure to DU dust, vapor or aerosol, as well as chronic exposure from tissue embedding of DU shrapnel fragments.** DU alloy is 99.8% 238Uranium, and **emits approximately 60% of the alpha, beta, and gamma radiation found in natural uranium** (4.05 x 10(-7) Ci/g DU alloy). DU is a heavy metal that is 160% more dense than lead and can **remain within the body for many years** and slowly solubilize. **High levels of urinary uranium have been measured in PGW veterans 10 years after exposure to DU fragments and vapors.** In rats, there is strong evidence of DU accumulation in tissues including testes, bone, kidneys, and brain. **In vitro tests indicate that DU alloy may be both genotoxic and mutagenic** , whereas a recent in vivo study suggests that tissue-embedded DU alloy may be carcinogenic in rats. There is limited available data for reproductive and teratological deficits from exposure to uranium per se, typically from oral, respiratory, or dermal exposure routes. Alternatively, there is no data available on the reproductive effects of DU embedded. This paper reviews published studies of reproductive toxicity in humans and animals from uranium or DU exposure, and discusses ongoing animal research to evaluate reproductive effects in male and female rats embedded with DU fragments, and possible consequences in F1 and F2 generations.
Note that the above paper is from the Naval Health Research Center Detachment-Toxicology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
> [@](#):
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> Abu-Qare AW, Abou-Donia MB.
> Depleted uranium–the growing concern.
> J Appl Toxicol. 2002 May-Jun;22(3):149-52. Review.
> [PMID: 12015793](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12015793&dopt=Abstract)
>
> Recently, several studies have reported on the health and environmental consequences of the use of depleted uranium. **Depleted uranium is a heavy metal that is also radioactive.** It is commonly used in missiles as a counterweight because of its very high density (1.6 times more than lead). **Immediate health risks associated with exposure to depleted uranium include kidney and respiratory problems, with conditions such as kidney stones, chronic cough and severe dermatitis. Long-term risks include lung and bone cancer. Several published reports implicated exposure to depleted uranium in kidney damage, mutagenicity, cancer, inhibition of bone, neurological deficits, significant decrease in the pregnancy rate in mice and adverse effects on the reproductive and central nervous systems. Acute poisoning with depleted uranium elicited renal failure that could lead to death. The environmental consequences of its residue will be felt for thousands of years. It is inhaled and passed through the skin and eyes, transferred through the placenta into the fetus, distributed into tissues and eliminated in urine.** The use of depleted uranium during the Gulf and Kosovo Wars and the crash of a Boeing airplane carrying depleted uranium in Amsterdam in 1992 were implicated in a health concern related to exposure to depleted uranium.
In summary, it is radioactive, can get absorbed and remain in the body for many years. Aside from the long-term radiological risks, there is also an acute risk of heavy-metal poisoning.
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### Author:  [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/14 "2003-04-08T00:25:46Z")
Where I work we get a fair amount of bioterrorism and CDC materials passing through.
According to that information (and no, I"m not looking it up right now, it’s 40 miles away at the office) uranium is most toxic to the kidneys. So it’s a “kidney seeker”. The damage it does to the kidneys is chemical/toxic, not radiological (well, OK, the radiation has an effect, but apparently it’s the biotoxic effects that destroy the organs, long before the radiation does)
Obviously, amount of exposure, means of exposure, and so forth have an effect.
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### Author:  [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/15 "2003-04-08T00:35:33Z")
IIRC, depleted uranium was mentioned as a possible factor in Gulf War Syndrome, the clusters of unexplained illnesses experience by numerious troops after the first gulf war. The debate about that is still going on, though.
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### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/16 "2003-04-08T01:05:08Z")
This one is skirting with GD territory, but there are some sources that link Depleted Uranium shells to Gulf War Syndrome. Apparently US troops were not warned to avoid Iraqi armor that had been hit with DU shells and souvenir hunters may have been exposed. So far though there has been no direct correlation proven clinically [cite](http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library).
Personally, I think its one of those situations like breast implants, cell phones, or aspartame. We haven’t been able to prove it, but something doesn’t seem right.
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### Author:  [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/17 "2003-04-08T01:06:43Z")
doh, simulpost on preview
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### Author:  [@Yossarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yossarian)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/18 "2003-04-08T01:13:35Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by asterion \*
> \*\*
> Okay, so which uranium compounds and complexes are soluble? I don’t know and I’ve yet to find anything that tells me. \*\*
Oxidized Uranium (U[sup]+6[/sup]) is mobile in aqueous solutions; reduced Uranium (U[sup]+4[/sup]) isn’t.
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/depleted-uranium-how-dangerous-is-it/167095/19 "2003-04-08T02:10:14Z")
> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Pantellerite \*
> \*\*Oxidized Uranium (U[sup]+6[/sup]) is mobile in aqueous solutions; reduced Uranium (U[sup]+4[/sup]) isn’t. \*\*
All right, so the question is which would easily be created on a battlefield or by just sitting there. I don’t think you’re going to create UF6 on the battlefield. I wouldn’t want to be near it in any case–fluoride compounds can be nasty.