What is Depleted Uranium (DU)?
In order to produce fuel for certain types of nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons, uranium has to be “enriched” in the U-235 isotope, which is responsible for nuclear fission. During the enrichment process the fraction of U-235 is increased from its natural level (0.72% by mass) to between 2% and 94% by mass. The by-product uranium mixture (after the enriched uranium is removed) has reduced concentrations of U-235 and U-234. This by-product of the enrichment process is known as depleted uranium (DU). The official definition of depleted uranium given by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is uranium in which the percentage fraction by weight of U-235 is less than 0.711%. Typically, the percentage concentration by weight of the uranium isotopes in DU used for military purposes is: U-238: 99.8%; U-235: 0.2%; and U-234: 0.001%. The table below compares percentages of uranium isotopes by weight and activity in natural and depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium (DU) ammunition is a very recent advancement in military weapons use. Due to its effectiveness against piercing armor, DU ammunition has recently become a popular item among NATO armies and will most likely become a mainstream form of conventional ammunition among many other armies of the world. However, massive amounts of circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that the use of DU ammunition has known to cause dramatic side effects, such as health problems, stillborn babies, toxic and poisonous land, water supplies, and residential territories. Hence an important question arises, is it ethical to use DU ammunition on the battlefield?
