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To: Bob
What part of the word ‘depleted’ don’t people understand? DEPLETED - as in depleted of its radioactive isotopes and therefore NON-RADIOACTIVE. It’s not nuclear physics, people. Actually, I guess it is. :=)

It is radioactive but not so anyone would notice.

U238 is an Alpha particle emitter; the radiation could be shield with a sheet of paper. Pretty harmless unless you breathe it, eat it or get it in your eye.

It is a heavy metal so it is pretty poisonous. But if these are solid parts none of those dangers exist and the parts are contained in a drum so even an alpha particle is not going to bump in to anyone.

This was a pretty ridiculous fire drill however. Depleted Uranium used to be easily available in just about any arts and crafts store as a paint pigment. But we do now live in a nanny state where the sheeple must be protected from themselves.

12 posted on 07/25/2013 11:09:58 PM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: Pontiac

“U238 is an Alpha particle emitter; the radiation could be shield with a sheet of paper. Pretty harmless unless you breathe it, eat it or get it in your eye.

It is a heavy metal so it is pretty poisonous. But if these are solid parts none of those dangers exist and the parts are contained in a drum so even an alpha particle is not going to bump in to anyone.”

Uranium burns relatively easily for a metal, and disperses in the air as uranium oxide. That is why some airlines are changing over to other ballast weights. While depleted uranium from enrichment programs contain little U-235, the depleted uranium from reactor cores can contain much more and , in addition, other, more dangerous elements, such as plutonium.


18 posted on 07/26/2013 12:39:59 AM PDT by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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