# Is depleted uranium as radioactive as non-depleted?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-depleted-uranium-as-radioactive-as-non-depleted/128067>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 12, 2002, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-depleted-uranium-as-radioactive-as-non-depleted/128067 "2002-09-12T01:56:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-depleted-uranium-as-radioactive-as-non-depleted/128067/21 "2002-09-13T05:11:18Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Jman \*  
> \*\*Senor Beef…they definitely use depleted uranium in the armor of M-1 tanks.
> 
> Jman \*\*

You’re mostly right - the original m1 didn’t use depleted uranium plates, but the a1 and a2 do. I must’ve been recalling reading an article about the original m1.

“In March 1988, a program to develop and mount depleted uranium armor plate on the M-1A1 was begun. A non-radioactive substance, depleted uranium has a density at least two-and-a-half times greater than steel. The depleted uranium armor will raise the total weight of the Abrams tank to 65 tons, but offers vastly improved protection in the bargain.”

[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/weapons/m1.html](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/weapons/m1.html)

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**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-depleted-uranium-as-radioactive-as-non-depleted/128067/22 "2002-09-13T05:14:31Z")

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Er, I said ‘mostly right’ because to be totally accurate you’d have had to say ‘m1a1/m1a2 tanks do use depleted uranium armor’ - but you were right. I got mixed up.

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**Author:** ![Yeah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/dbc845/32.png) [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2002, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-depleted-uranium-as-radioactive-as-non-depleted/128067/23 "2002-09-13T12:04:11Z")

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“What is truly outrageous is that there is now tons of this stuff littering the landscape anywhere the US goes to war, which is about once every five years. In Yugoslavia and Iraq, people will be breathing dust laced with uranium till the end of time. Depleted uranium ammo hould be banned. It’s use should be a war crime. It is much worse than poison gas which eventually dissapates.”

Couldn’t this be said just as easily about lead?

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