Daytona Beach News-Journal:

Stetson student found with uranium on DeLand campus
Stetson University officials confiscated a package containing low-grade uranium from a student Thursday, DeLand police said.

Volusia County’s HAZMAT team, DeLand police and firefighters were called to the scene. Authorities discovered that the amount of uranium was small enough that it could be possessed legally.

Police said there was no immediate threat to the campus, but the Public Safety Office was temporarily sealed off as a precaution.

According to Cindi Brownfield, Stetson spokeswoman, possession of uranium falls under the university’s weapons policy, and the student will go through Stetson’s judicial process.

DeLand Deputy Chief Randel Henderson said in an email that police are “conferring with the FBI as a routine protocol.”

And also, here’s a clip from a local news station:

CONGRATULATIONS, STETSON UNIVERSITY, HE’S NOT EVEN GRADUATED AND YOU’VE ALREADY MANAGED TO TEACH HIM/HER HOW MUCH INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY WILL BE PUNISHED!

Now lets actually consider what we have here. A student acquired a small amount of uranium, a substance less toxic than the lead found in solder, car batteries and any number of other products. No, this was not enriched uranium. It was either natural or depleted uranium. It’s a metal. A mildly toxic, ever so slightly radioactive metal that is 100% legal to own and possess in the United States. It’s a material that occurs very commonly in nature. It’s found in many varieties of sandstone and nearly all granite contains significant levels of the stuff. In many places you can go outside and pick up a rock which has a visible amount of uranium oxide right on the surface. Rocks containing very high levels of uranium would be part of any respectable mineral collection and the geology department certainly would have a few samples. Perhaps they need to be investigated and disciplined too!

It’s not a weapon. It’s not dangerous and can’t be used as a weapon in any manner other than by throwing it at someone. If it’s small, it will leave a bruise. If it’s large enough, it may well cause some damage. That’s it. But then again, the same could be said about anything hard and heavy. No, you can’t build a bomb out of it. Acquiring raw uranium is not even the difficult part of building a nuclear weapon.

There’s no word on what form the uranium was in, but some common forms include the following:

• Uranium ore – While many rocks contain uranium “ore” normally means rocks that have a high enough concentration to make it worth recovering
• Vaseline Glass – A green fluorescent glass popular in the 1930’s and still prized by collectors and artists
• Orange glazed ceramics – Uranium oxide was the primary pigment for orange glaze prior to about 1980
• Uranium metal – Available from various suppliers (though harder to get because of this idiocy) as a scientific item or collectable

I have had inquiries many times by individuals looking to buy small amounts of uranium. Because of these kind of news stories, I no longer feel comfortable selling the stuff, although I have sold a few samples in the past. It is still totally legal to do so, but it could raise this kind of idiotic response. The primary reason I am given for wanting to acquire uranium is for element collections. Some others are nuclear energy or science enthusiasts who would like a small sample of the material for educational purposes, to show others or to observe its unique properties. At one time, it was not unusual for educators to have some uranium metal for students to pass around and feel the weight of.

Uranium is very heavy, surprisingly so. Holding even a small amount in your hand it is very obvious that it is significantly heavier than lead. It’s very hard. Uranium is dark grey with a dull luster. It oxidizes quickly so it is best kept in oil or in a sealed atmosphere to prevent oxidation.

Although relatively low in radioactivity, uranium is more than radioactive enough to make it an excellent source of calibration of Geiger counters and other radiological equipment. Because the half-life is so long, a sample provides relatively stable radiation levels over a long period of time for checking and calibrating equipment. It is especially invaluable when calibrating equipment intended for geological work, such as uranium prospecting. It can also be used for calibrating spectroscopy equipment to the unique signature of uranium and its daughters.

Because uranium is an alpha emitter, it can be used in cloud chambers. Prior to the recent radiophobia, cloud chambers were popular at science fairs and with amateur science geeks. Another homebrew experiment using uranium is the construction of a spinthaiscope. In such a device, a small amount of an alpha emitter, such as uranium is placed near a fluorescent screen. When viewed in the dark, the alpha particles produce tiny flashes of light. It’s a fun demonstration.

It’s also possible that the uranium was to be part of a class project, which could have been something like a hardware-based random number generator.

But even if it was nothing more than a scientific novelty, a piece of a unique material as a curiosity, so what? It’s harmless and such enthusiasm for learning is what universities are supposed to encourage.

The reported amounts were relatively small, not nearly enough to actually build a nuclear weapon.  Even if they had been highly enriched uranium of a quantity necessary, it would still have taken knowledge and facilities beyond those of any non-state terror group to build a functional nuclear weapon.   Still, if this was highly enriched uranium, it’s still a very big deal.  For one thing, HEU is pretty damn valuable stuff, which is generally guarded quite closely if only for it’s value.  It’s used for many research and military nuclear reactors, but becomes too radioactive to easily transport after it has been in the reactor for even a short period of time.

While HEU is not easily fabricated into a weapon by most groups, even a small amount of it could really help a country like Iran or North Korea jump several months ahead in a nuclear weapons program, as production of HEU requires a great deal of enrichment. Even a small amount of highly enriched uranium could also be quite dangerous, as criticality accidents can easily occur with such material.

Here’s what the New York Times Says about the incident:

Arrests in Moldova Over Possible Uranium Smuggling
MOSCOW — The police in Moldova said Wednesday that they had arrested six people involved with a criminal group that said it was dealing in smuggled nuclear materials and was active in the former Soviet Union and in Arab countries.

The group had been negotiating the sale of uranium, police officials said in a statement and in remarks reported by news agencies, and the authorities suggested that the material had come from Russia.

Some of the suspects were arrested while they were carrying a lead canister, the authorities said. In a video released to the news media, police officers wearing gloves showed how a Geiger counter clicked rapidly when brought near the dull gray metal tube. The police said the contents of the tube would be sent for analysis.

Though associated with the chaos of the immediate years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, reports of nuclear smuggling in the former Eastern bloc continue to this day, and are no less ominous for the number of false alarms that are raised from time to time. Last year, for example, the Moldovan authorities arrested members of a group that was selling what turned out to be only slightly radioactive uranium.

The prevalence of these cases, including frauds and other scams, illustrates the difficulties associated with the legacy of the loosely guarded Soviet weapons program.

The Moldovan authorities said that the suspects, who included four Moldovans, one Russian and one resident of the Russian-backed separatist region of Transnistria in eastern Moldova, had sought a buyer for what the suspects said was bomb-grade uranium, Western and Russian news agencies reported.

The gang thought it was negotiating with a North African buyer who turned out to be an undercover security agent, according to the police and the news agency reports. They gang’s members had sought to sell uranium that they said was enriched to an unspecified refinement of the isotope 235 for between $29 million and $144 million per kilogram, the police statement said.

Other press outlets are even less restrained, coming right out and saying that this was indeed weapons grade uranium intended for construction of a nuclear bomb.

But is this actually highly enriched, even weapons-grade uranium?

If it is, then this is a very big deal, because it means stocks are not secure, and calls into question the general oversight of special nuclear materials and facilities in the former Soviet Union. It also could indicate that countries looking to acquire nuclear weapons could have a short cut in the uranium enrichment process.

On the other hand, if this is just depleted uranium, then this is hardly newsworthy. It’s just a few two-bit punks trying to bullshit their way into a fortune with material that is no more harmful than a chunk of lead.

I managed to find some better information on this Romanian news website – Google Translation.   While it does not give any direct account of the isotopic composition of the uranium, it does provide this video of the material:

There are a few very telling images in this video which reveal the following:

• The object is not producing much radiation at all – only about 50 uREM/hr near the surface. That is very low for material containing significant uranium-235.
• There are no detectable neutron emissions
• It’s roughly cylindrical and looks to be about the size of a soup can
• It has a shiny metallic appearance, which means it is not solid uranium, as uranium oxidizes quickly. It likely has a coating of another metal, possibly zinc.

It’s a counterweight, of the type used on aircraft to adjust balance and reduce wing flutter. It’s made of depleted uranium. It’s not dangerous at all (well unless you throw it at someone). In fact, in the United States, you don’t even need a license to own one of these things.

It’s also not worth anywhere near the millions asked. It’s not even worth thousands. These counterweights are routinely discarded as waste or considered surplus when aircraft are serviced or retired. Because of regulations and liability, they can be a bit hard to come by in most countries, but if you really want one, I’m sure I can track one down for just a couple million dollars – a bargain compared to this.

It’s really no surprise at all, because just last year, there was a similar incident where an aircraft counterweight was being passed off as dangerous radioactive material in Moldova.

The moral of this story:
Never trust Moldovan criminal rackets to provide accurate information about the goods they are selling.
Never trust the media when reporting anything even remotely related to nuclear technology, uranium, terrorism, radiation, science or any other topic.

UPDATE:

Further images and news reports indicate the object seen is not the actual uranium item but is a lead container.   There’s still no solid evidence that it was weapons grade uranium, so while it may turn out to be something other than an aircraft counter weight, I still say it’s not likely to be HEU and is probably depleted uranium.

The US and our NATO allies really don’t have any direct interest in what goes on in Libya. The country is not an eminent threat to us, although it is possible instability could result in higher oil prices if it begins to affect the rest of the region. We certainly do not want to commit to any kind of ground campaign. We’ve only recently managed to start getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan has become a conflict which lacks leadership or direction. Becoming involved in the conflict in Libya is a can of worms we don’t need to open, and the prospect of ground troops, even in the roll of “peace keeping” is not a situation we want to get into.

Not only that, but much as we dislike Muammar Gaddafi, supporting the overthrow of the government of Libya is not sure to work to the advantage of the US or other NATO countries. It’s anyone’s guess what might take hold in the power vacuum and whatever regime may come to replace him could be peaceful and democratic or even worse than Gaddafi.

So I will come down on the side of this is a bad idea. You may disagree, which is fine. This is a political issue that is sure to have a number of sides and arguments.

However, there is another issue that has been raised, which is scientific, not subjective: Depleted Uranium.

Has depleted uranium been used in the airstrikes against Libya?  I’d say probably not, because, at least in the US military, the use of depleted uranium munitions is normally confined to anti-armor kinetic energy rounds. However, depleted uranium has been used in the past to adjust the center of gravity or add weight and other munitions, and since the airstrikes have included the French, British and other forces, I can’t really say for certain whether depleted uranium was used in any of the bombs dropped. It’s remotely possible that it was, although it seems unlikely.

However, what I can say is this: It doesn’t matter. Because regardless of whether a bomb is ballasted with lead, tungsten or depleted uranium, it blows up just the same and kills in exactly the same way, by shrapnel, over pressure and heat. And regardless of what metal it might contain, the toxicity and environmental effect is roughly the same.

Apparently some don’t get this.

Via the ironically names “axis of logic”

Depleted Uranium: A Strange Way To Protect Libyan Civilians

“[Depleted uranium tipped missiles] fit the description of a dirty bomb in every way… I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people.” ~ Marion Falk, chemical physicist (retd), Lawrence Livermore Lab, California, USA

In the first 24 hours of the Libyan attack, US B-2s dropped forty-five 2,000-pound bombs. These massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, all contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads.

DU is the waste product from the process of enriching uranium ore. It is used in nuclear weapons and reactors. Because it is a very heavy substance, 1.7 times denser than lead, it is highly valued by the military for its ability to punch through armored vehicles and buildings. When a weapon made with a DU tip strikes a solid object like the side of a tank, it goes straight through it, then erupts in a burning cloud of vapor. The vapor settles as dust, which is not only poisonous, but also radioactive.

An impacting DU missile burns at 10,000 degrees C. When it strikes a target, 30% fragments into shrapnel. The remaining 70% vaporises into three highly-toxic oxides, including uranium oxide. This black dust remains suspended in the air and, according to wind and weather, can travel over great distances. If you think Iraq and Libya are far away, remember that radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales.

Particles less than 5 microns in diameter are easily inhaled and may remain in the lungs or other organs for years. Internalized DU can cause kidney damage, cancers of the lung and bone, skin disorders, neurocognitive disorders, chromosome damage, immune deficiency syndromes and rare kidney and bowel diseases. Pregnant women exposed to DU may give birth to infants with genetic defects. Once the dust has vaporised, don’t expect the problem to go away soon. As an alpha particle emitter, DU has a half life of 4.5 billion years.

It has gotten to the point where we can just about expect this whenever there is any military action of any type.

The same fallacies and misunderstandings seem to come up each time. Yes, uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, but that’s the same half life whether it’s laying on the ground, under ground, disolved in sea water or anywhere else on earth’s surface. As a naturally occurring mineral, uranium all comes from the earth’s surface, and if you go looking in any granite quarry or deposit of phosphate minerals, you’re bound to find quite a bit of it.

When it vaporizes, most of the dust tends to settle out of the air very quickly. A tiny portion may remain suspended, but it rapidly is diluted as it moves downrange. In any event, the concentrations in the general atmosphere pale in comparison to the amount of uranium that gets blown out of the stacks of coal fired power plants every year. If you do happen to inhale it (which I assure you, you have, although in micro or picogram levels,  because it’s a natural element and we are constantly inhaling tiny particles of atmospheric dust without knowing it), then chances are you will just exhale it again. If, however, it gets caught in the membranes of your lungs it will be absorbed and excreted by your body.

You would not want to breathe a whole lot of it in, of course. You would not want to breathe a whole lot of any metallic dust in. Although, in the grand scheme of things, if you’re going to be breathing metallic dust, you’re probably better off taking in a few specs of uranium than something like beryllium, which is considerably nastier.

Finally, I can say without hesitation that the statement “These massive bombs, along with the Cruise missiles launched from British and French planes and ships, all contained depleted uranium (DU) warheads.” is absolutely false.   Bombers have limited capacity and cruise missiles even lower capacity.   It would make no sense at all to use up space and payload for depleted uranium when it could be used for high explosives.

Depleted uranium may be used to increase the weight of ground penetrating munitions  or to add weight to munitions, as may be necessary to adjust the center of gravity.  (The US does not do this currently, but like I said, others may, though I doubt it), and it can be used to produce armor penetrator with unique and advantageous properties, but it’s absolutely useless in a missile warhead or a standard high explosive or cluster bomb.

One thing it would do, however, is increase the cost of any weapons it were incorporated into, because uranium is notoriously difficult to machine and thus tends to be expensive to fabricate.

Via The Associated Press:

3 arrested in Moldova in uranium smuggling plot
CHISINAU, Moldova — Two former policemen and another person were arrested in Moldova on suspicion of trying to sell four pounds (nearly two kilograms) of uranium on the black market, authorities said Wednesday, although the amount was too small to be used in a nuclear warhead or a “dirty bomb.”

Officials identified the material as uranium-238 and said it had a value of euro9 million ($11.35 million).

Uranium-238 can be enriched into the fissile material of nuclear warheads or converted into plutonium, also used to arm nuclear missiles. Both processes are complex and need much more of the material than the amount reported seized, which also was much too little to be used for a “dirty bomb.”

Interior Ministry officials said the traffickers were trying to sell the uranium, which was kept in the garage of a former policeman, to people from unspecified countries.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner congratulated Moldova’s government for the break up of what he called a uranium smuggling ring and said an FBI team had assisted Moldovan authorities with “technical analysis.”

Moldovan authorities have sent the uranium to a German atomic center to establish the percentage of enrichment and country of origin.

The International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna declined immediate comment on the case.

“We congratulate the Moldovan Ministry of Interior for its work in thwarting what was a serious smuggling attempt,” Toner told reporters in Washington. “Preventing nuclear smuggling is a priority for this administration, and the U.S. government continues to work with partners worldwide to thwart nuclear smuggling cases.”

I’m really stunned to see such fear and ignorance-based responses at the highest levels of the government. “serious smuggling attempt”???   Where the hell does this come from?

Also, where the hell do they get the value of $11.35 million from?   I am assuming the value of the uranium is an error on the part of the Associated Press, or possibly based on the price that the “criminals” were asking for the uranium, which was reported to be about nine million Euro. Honestly, if anyone is willing to pay that much, they’re an idiot and getting hosed badly, because I can get you that much U-238 for considerably less.   In any case, that may be the asking price, but it sure as hell is not the “value.”

The reports (and there are many) are not entirely clear on whether this is natural or depleted uranium.   Both natural and depleted uranium are composed primarily of U-238.  In the case of natural uranium it’s about 99.3% U-238, with most of the remaining being U-235.  Depleted Uranium is less than .3% U-235.   The article mentions that the uranium could be enriched (although you would get very little enriched uranium from two kilograms of unenriched uranium.)  That would seem to imply it is natural, although depleted uranium is sometimes suitable for “re-enrichment” to recover that remaining .3% or less of U-235.

I believe the uranium is most likely of the depleted variety.   This photo was published in several news outlets and reports to show the uranium in question.  It appears to be some kind of counter-weight or possibly a plug from a shielded cask – both of these being common uses of depleted uranium.   The source of the uranium is unknown, but it may have been scavenged from a junked aircraft or from a scrap metal yard.

So is this dangerous?
Absolutely, unequivocally and unquestionably NO.  It’s not dangerous – at least no more so than a chunk of lead of equal size.  You could possibly drop it on someone’s head, but that’s about the worst you could do with this uranium.

Despite numerous published reports claiming that this could be used in a so-called “dirty bomb,” it presents negligible radiation danger.   For a dirty bomb to have any potential at all for radioactive hazard, it would have to use large amounts of something much more potent than U-238.   Cobalt-60 or Cesium-137 might do the trick (if you had a real real lot of it), but even then, the effectiveness is questionable.  That, however, is another topic entirely.   In any case, the potential for using this in a dirty bomb is zero.

Is it a even crime?

I have to admit that I’m not an expert on the laws in Moldova, but unless this item was stolen outright then I don’t even see why this would be considered a crime.  The material itself is not especially hazardous.  It’s less radioactive than high grade uranium ore, which can be found just laying on the ground in many places in the world.   It’s less toxic than lead.  It’s not really suitable for any kind of “terrorist” use.

In most circumstances, depleted uranium is not regarded as a material that requires much regulation for radiological hazard.   In the United States, for example, any person may possess, transfer, buy or sell up to fifteen pounds (a little less than 8 kilograms) of depleted uranium with no need for a license or permit of any kind.   Larger quantities may be subject to regulation, depending on the circumstances.   In general, uranium found in consumer products that are either approved or pre-date current regulations are exempt from permit requirements.   Approved counterweights, instrument shielding and other products manufactured within applicable regulations are generally also exempt.  Of course, uranium in its mineral form is not covered by nuclear materials regulations.

However, the NRC and Federal Government does have the right to seize radioactive substances, even those which are not generally subject to regulations, if they are deemed a hazard.   There are certainly circumstances where this might be necessary – for example, if a huge number of radium clocks and aircraft dials are being improperly disposed of, it may be necessary to step in and take action, even though these items would normally be exempt from regulation by virtue of the fact that they are consumer products that predate the current regulatory framework.

Unfortunately, this kind of breathtakingly idiotic panic and fear-mongering can be a very dangerous thing when combined with fact that the government can seize items deemed dangerous.    This is the exact kind of idiocy that can lead to large areas being cordoned off when a small piece of depleted uranium is found or to hazmat teams raiding homes to confiscate Fiestaware plates or antique Vaseline glass sculptures.

While I do not know what the regulations are outside the US, I’d assume that they are probably similar.  Most countries maintain the right to declare items or areas to be hazardous.  Uranium is not generally regulated as highly radioactive substances of other types are – if it were, many common rocks and minerals would be illegal – not to menti0n the products ranging from aircraft counterweights to glazed pottery.

Is it so outlandish that authorities could be spooked by reports of uranium-glazed china to swoop in and declare their efforts a “raid against terrorist material?”     Well, the US State Department seems to think that a tiny amount of U-238 is reason to dispatch a “technical assistance” team to another country, and we live in a society where schools are closed down and cordoned off because someone broke a mercury thermometer and where major universities worry about radioactivity in buildings which, nearly a century ago, stored polonium-210, which has a half-life of 138 days.

This has been met with a curious response on numerous occasions.   Many concede that uranium is not all that harmful when touched or even ingested but then say “but what about the nano-particles.”   The dust, or “nanoparticles” resulting from uranium combustion are one thing that seems to come up again and again.  They are often credited with nearly magical properties, like the ability to stay suspended in the air indefinitely or to cause horrible health problems even in those far from the location where the uranium projectile was fired.

Indeed uranium tends to be more hazardous when inhaled than when exposure is by other routes, but that’s the extent of the truth to these statements.  Uranium is hardly unique in this respect.  Exposure to dust in general can cause respiratory problems, and certain metallic particles, such as beryllium, are well known to be especially hazardous if inhaled.   By comparison, uranium less dangerous, though it can be a hazard in high concentrations.

What’s so special about depleted uranium projectiles:

Uranium is used for armor-penetrating munitions because it has a number of properties that make it the most ideal material available.  Its use is generally confined to rounds intended to be used against armor, as the difficulties in machining uranium make it more expensive than other materials and its unique physical properties are of less use against softer targets.   Uranium rounds are generally of the kinetic energy penitrator variety, meaning they contain no explosive and simply use their own energy to punch through armor.

Uranium is very heavy, with a density of 19.1 grams per cubic centimeter.  That’s nearly twice as heavy as lead.   The increased mass means that the round has more kinetic energy than a lighter round moving at the same velocity.

Uranium metal also has a very unique property in how it reacts on impact.  Uranium is pyrophoric and auto-ignites when it is ground or ablated.   Solid samples of uranium will not burn under normal circumstances, but granular uranium or uranium turnings will.  When a round strikes armor, tiny particles of uranium break free from the surface and ignite.  The friction of being pushed through the target effectively grinds off a layer of material from the round, which burns, creating an aerosol of burning uranium which surrounds the round and cuts through the armor like a plasma lance.

In addition to this, uranium is extremely hard.  The hardness of uranium combined with he pyrophoric qualities of the metal give depleted uranium rounds a very unique property known as self-sharpening.   Rather than “mushrooming” as most metals do on impact, uranium rounds actually keep their sharpness.   As material peels away from the round, it retains its taper and even becomes sharper.   Maximizing this property is achieved through specialized (and sometimes classified) alloying methods.

Some have described the effect of depleted uranium as being like a laser in its ability to punch a hole through armor.  The projectiles do not themselves contain explosives, but explosions often result from the fuel or munitions stored within a vehicle.   In addition to being highly effective, depleted uranium rounds have the advantage of avoiding unexploded ordinance left on the battlefield or causing extreme collateral damage if the round misses the target.  They also won’t explode in the breach of a gun.

All of these properties make uranium the best material available for armor penetrating munitions.

What happens to the uranium after the round has been fired:

In most cases, the majority of the uranium in a round stays relatively intact, and only a small portion of the metal peals off and burns.   Uranium metal tends to oxidize relatively quickly when exposed to the atmosphere, so the round and any large portions of it will rapidly acquire a layer of uranium oxide.  Once the layer forms, the oxidization process will slow, as the metal is no longer in direct contact with the air.   Because the uranium oxide layer is not a perfectly impermeable material, oxidation will continue, although at a much slower rate.

The process is analogous to a how a piece of iron corrodes when left to weather.   It will quickly form a layer of rust and, over time, more and more of the iron will rust away, but it may take many years for the metal to be completely reduced to oxides.  Like iron, given enough time, uranium will return to a state similar to how it is found in nature.  The most common form of uranium ore is composed of uranium dioxide. This stable form of uranium is ultimately what uranium metal will revert to.

The uranium which aerosols or combusts when the projectile strikes will also revert to an oxide.   The combustion of uranium produces stable uranium oxides, such as uranium dioxide as well as some intermediate products, including uranyl.   Uranyl is a polyatomic ion of uranium in its +6 oxidation state.

Because uranyl is an ion, it will no be found on its own in nature.   Uranyl itself is fairly stable but due to its positive charge, it behaves like a free-radical and will form a compound almost immediately.   In most circumstances, this will be uranium trioxide (also known as uranyl oxide).   Occasionally, a small amount of uranyl nitrate or uranyl carbonate will be created.   Uranium trioxide is also found in uranium ores, though it is not as common as uranium dioxide.  Other less common forms of uranium oxide, such as U3O8 or U3O7 may be present in insignificant amounts.

Therefore, it can be said that when uranium combusts, it is converted to uranium oxides, primarily uranium dioxide, which are very similar to those found in uranium minerals.

Where the dust goes:

The material which does burn is atomized, reduced to dust or “nanoparticles” – which is really just another way of saying “really small dust.”   Some of the uranium particles may bond to the still-molten metal of the armor that the round has penetrated and become embedded in it.   However, much of it will be expelled into the environment.

There is already quite a lot of dust in the earth’s atmosphere.   Tiny dust particles help give the sky its blue color and seed clouds to produce precipitation.    Uranium dust, however, does not tend to stay suspended in the atmosphere as well as other types of dust.  The fact that uranium is so heavy means that it will settle out faster than nearly any other particle of similar size.

The vast majority of dust from a uranium projectile will settle to the ground quite quickly.   Once the “smoke” (composed of uranium dust as well as other dust and debris) has cleared, all the larger particles of uranium will have settled to the ground.  Most of the uranium oxide dust settles out of the air within a maximum of about fifty yards of the impact.   The area around the impact may therefore have a small amount of increased uranium content, but this is not all that significant considering that uranium is already quite abundant in the earth’s crust and therefore already present in soil.   Aside from absence of most of the uranium-235 a few specks of uranium dust mixed in with local dust and soil is generally identical to the uranium already found in the environment.

Only a tiny fraction of the dust produced by the combustion of a uranium projectile will have any chance at remaining suspended in the atmosphere for any significant period of time.   Some of the dust may also be kicked up again after it has settled from suspension.  As distance increases from the site of the impact, the concentration of uranium particles will become lower and lower until they are, for all intents and purposes, negligible.

The odd particle of uranium in the atmosphere is hardly unusual.  Any time that mineral dust is kicked up into the atmosphere, there is likely to be some uranium mixed in.

In addition to the vast amounts of uranium already present in the soils and sands of the world, human activity does contribute some to the amount of uranium present in the atmosphere.   The single largest contributor (by far) is the burning of coal.   In addition to numerous other heavy metals released each year, coal fired power plants blow hundreds of tons of particulate uranium into the atmosphere each year and leave hundreds of thousands of tons more in the ash produced. Though the concentration of uranium in coal is low, the sheer amount burned produces significant uranium releases.

In the event that any tiny particles of uranium manage to stay suspended in the atmosphere for an extended period of time, they will eventually be cleared by the same natural process that removes all other forms of dust from the atmosphere: precipitation.   Tiny particles of dust form the seeds onto which water vapor can condense in the upper atmosphere.  This allows the formation of clouds and eventually rain or snow.  Upon raining out of the atmosphere, the uranium will find its way into the hydrosphere and eventually the world’s oceans, which already have quite a bit of uranium dissolved in them.

Health Effects of Uranium Dust:

There is no doubt that the inhalation of significant quantities of uranium dust poses a health hazard.   Indeed, inhaling any dust at all in large enough quantities is something that should be avoided.  Chronic exposure to metallic or non-metallic dust, even of non-toxic materials can cause damage to the lungs.  Those in occupations that involve grinding, sanding or scraping are therefore advised to wear some type of respirator or dust mask.   Of course, some materials are worse than others due to their toxic or carcinogenic nature.  In such cases, greater precautions may be necessary.

It would certainly not be healthy to be in the immediate area of a depleted uranium round impact when it occurs.  The impact would not only produce uranium dust, but also various metallic and non-metallic debris from the target it hits and any explosives it contains.   Of course, for those who are so close to the target, there would be much greater concerns.  At greater distances, the possibility of inhaling any uranium from such an impact is remote and if any is inhaled, will be of an extremely small quantity.

It is known that sufficient uranium inhalation can cause lung damage and, in some cases, lead to lung cancer, but this has only been shown in cases of fairly large and chronic exposure.  There are other materials which are of far greater hazard when compared to uranium.  Beryllium is well known for its inhalation hazards, which are far greater than uranium.   If beryllium is to be machined, it is important to have proper ventilation and respiratory protection;.   Still, when beryllium is ground or machined, nobody worries that it will contaminate whole regions of the earth’s surface.

By contrast, uranium is less toxic than lead and, although radioactive, its long half-life assures that only a minuscule amount of radiation is produced by a tiny particle.   In circumstances where uranium is being worked with and inhalation is a possibility, general purpose respiration protection and dust control measures are recommended.   Even when uranium dust is produced by activities, it is not necessary to resort to extreme measures of protection, such as negative pressure glove boxes or fully isolated protective suits.   Such measures are may be with materials like plutonium, but uranium is not toxic or hazardous enough to warrant anything beyond standard measure of protection.   Handling of solid uranium metal, in circumstances where it is not being cut, machined or drilled, requires no special protection at all.

Should a particle of uranium be inhaled, one of three things will happen.   Either the particle will be trapped in the mucus membranes of the respiratory system, the particle will be exhaled or the particle will become embedded in the tissue of the lungs.  Most dust particles, especially larger ones, never make it to the lungs if inhaled.  The human body has a very effective system to filter air that is inhaled through the use of mucus and small hairs that line the sinuses and trachea.   Should the dust particle be stopped here it will either be expelled from the body or ingested, in which case, it will pass through the digestive tract with little absorption.   In most circumstances, about 50% of inhaled uranium is swallowed, rather than being deposited in the lungs.  If the particle is tiny enough to avoid being filtered out by the body, it may well remain suspended and be exhaled when the individual takes their next breath.

If the particle becomes embedded in the lungs, it may cause some very minor irritation or damage to surrounding tissue.   The damage from a single particle is generally insignificant, however significant damage can occur if enough uranium is inhaled.   Uranium is primarily an alpha emitter, so radiation produced will only effect the most localized portion of the body, and the long half life of uranium means that it will only produce a tiny amount of radiation exposure.   This exposure, along with the chemical toxicity to cells, is reason for concern, but only if the amount of uranium inhaled is fairly significant – more than the occasional tiny particle.

Tiny particles of uranium which manage to make it all the way to the alveoli of the lungs cannot be as easily cleared from the body.  Some of the larger particles may still be cleared by phlem, while those which are deeply embedded or which are are less than about a half a micron in size are absorbed into the bloodstream. The process of absorbing the uranium typically takes a period of days, for the tiniest “nano”-particles, up to months for larger particles of uranium dust, but once in the body it clears the bloodstream and is passed in urine quickly.

NOTE:  This is being discussed in the context of possible exposure to a tiny amount of uranium, as might occur from the impact of a projectile at a distance of hundreds of meters or more.  In these circumstances the total level of possible exposure is minuscule and thus damage to the lungs is not a major issue.  This should not be taken to mean that more direct exposure to uranium particles is not a health hazard.

The kidneys are quite effective in the removal of uranium from the body.   Concern has been expressed about the danger of kidney damage due to uranium exposure, and kidney damage remains the most prevalent health effect observed in humans as the result of uranium exposure.   The kidneys are, however, capable of handling a certain level of toxic metals before damage occurs.  Renal tube damage has been observed in those exposed to uranium, but only in circumstances where the exposure is extremely high and generally of a chronic nature.   In all but the most extreme examples, the damage is temporary and heals once the uranium exposure ends.  It takes about eight milligrams of uranium absorbed by the body to produce even mild, temporary effects on the kidneys.

Other effects, such as disposition in the skeleton or damage to the reproductive system has only been observed at very very extreme exposure levels.

Standards for inhaled uranium exposure:

In the US, the maximum occupational exposure for uranium by the NRC (of 5% U-235 or less) is .2 milligrams per cubic meter, for a typical 40 hour work week.  OSHA’s upper limit is .25 milligrams per cubic centimeter.  This level is significantly lower than the level at which any health effects are detectable, but is much higher than the regional exposure one would expect from the use of uranium projectiles.

For soluble uranium compounds, which are more readily absorbed, the standard is lower at .05 milligrams per cubic centimeter. This is also higher than the average exposure from a projectile used the general region one lives in, but it does not apply anyway, because the dust produced by uranium combustion is not a “soluble” form of uranium.

The WHO considers the standard of one .1 milligrams of uranium per cubic meter of air to be acceptable for the general population.   Surveys by the WHO of sites where depleted uranium has been used have shown that an increased concentration of uranium is only detectable within a very small area around the impact.  The general increase in environmental uranium and background radiation is described by the WHO as “negligible.”   A full survey of several areas in Kosovo concluded “the probability of significant exposure to local populations was considered to be very low.”

It is estimated that the average human absorbs up to 1.1 micrograms of uranium per day, primarily from natural enviornmental sources. At any given time, the average person’s body contains 90 micrograms of uranium, although some may contain significantly more due to the levels in their localized environment.   A total body burden of up to few hundred micrograms is not generally considered to be abnormal or reason for concern.

Sources of Additional Information:
Uranium Lung Solubility – LANL Report [PDF]
Chemical Toxicity Of Uranium
Depleted Uranium Health: Facts and Helpful Suggestions, by Glen Lawrence
Health Physics Society Fact Sheet on Depleted Uranium

Links to even more references on this topic can be found in this previous post.

The above image has been reported to show a child in Iraq after the US invasion.  It’s also been claimed that it shows a child in Kosovo or Bosnia, in Afghanistan or a victim of the Chernobyl event from Ukraine or Belarus.    These claims, however are false.

Perhaps you’ve seen this photo somewhere or can help trace it to its original source. Here is what we know:

What the image shows:

A woman, appearing to be a dark skinned Caucasian (perhaps Indian or Arab) holds an infant with a very apparent medical problem.   The child has hydrocephalus, a condition seen in one in five hundred births, making it one of the most common birth defects.   Hydrocephalus is a condition in which cerebral fluid does not properly drain from the skull, causing a fluid build up in and around the brain and resulting in swelling and potentially severe brain damage.       Note that the child’s eyes also appear to be effected by the condition, one being closed and another severely off center.   This is a common effect of the swelling and pressure.

However, there is some good news here.   The child does appear to be receiving the kind of medical care he (or she) needs for this condition.   Hydrocephalus is typically treated by implanting a cerebral shunt.   This is simply a tube which allows the fluid to drain from the head, typically to the abdominal cavity.   The tube may remain in place for many years and in young children, it’s typically placed in a manner to accommodate growth.   The small sore in the child’s head is actually the point of the implant and the tube, or tubes can be seen running down the child’s body.   Dramatic though this may look, the fact is that this infant actually is getting the medical care he (or she) needs).

The prognosis of this individual is impossible to know.   Many born with bydrocephalus go on to live perfectly normal lives, but in other cases, the condition has already caused brain damage that will result in developmental disorders.   Not knowing the severity of this infant’s condition, the age of the child or other factors, it’s impossible to tell whether or not he or she has suffered any significant brain damage or complications.   All that can be said is that the individual is apparently receiving the proper treatment for this condition and therefore has at least a good chance of going on to live a normal life.

The head swelling can be expected to go down and the head will return to a more normal shape as the pressure is relieved.   The fluid can’t be removed all at once or it could cause the skull to collapse.  As the child’s bones are still soft and pliable, they can return to a more normal shape.   As he (or she) grows, the tubes will be less obvious and eventually invisible.  In the future, surgery may be required to replace the tubes to accommodate growth or they may eventually not be necessary at all.

There is one slightly unusual thing about the photo:  the child appears to have not one but two tubes coming down from the head.   This is not unheard of, but most surgery involves just one tube being placed.   One doctor suggested to me that this could be because the surgeon was concerned that the child might not be able to quickly get medical attention in case one of the tubes clogged (as might be the case in a third world country.)    A second tube would assure that a clog would not result in potentially dangerous fluid retention in the case of a clog or kink.    This is just speculation, however.   It’s also possible that the surgeon decided that more than one point for drainage was necessary.

It’s very hard to tell if the child also suffers from malnutrition, as the age of the child is not known.   It would not be unusual for an infant with this condition to not be resistant to feeding, although this should resolve with the treatment.   The bottom line is that the child has a good chance of recovery, likely as good as in any developed country and that this is not some weird disease but rather a common birth defect seen all over the world and which can be caused by any number of factors, but often occurring for no known reason.

and yes, I have run this by a couple of doctors.  They tell me it looks like a textbook case.

The style of dress of the woman in the picture appears to be Western.  She may be a relief worker, a nurse or possibly (although it seems less probable) the child’s mother.  The background, including the blanket do not appear consistent with hospitals in the United States or Western Europe.  It may be Russian, Eastern European or Middle Eastern.   The style of clothing implies this photo is no older than the 1980’s.   The fact that the woman is wearing a sweater implies that it is not a very hot area of the globe.

The history of the image:

The image first showed up on the internet sometime around the mid 1990’s.   It is often found with a number of other photographs under the title “extreme deformities” and has been attributed to Siegwart Horst Günther, an anti-nuclear and anti-depleted uranium acitivist of dubious credibility.   It is often claimed to have been taken in Iraq, although this is not universal to all the sites that use it.    In other cases it’s been used on its own or with a variety of other images claiming it to be depleted uranium-related.   Many of the pages which use the image actually pre-date the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, the attacks of 9/11 and even the administration of George W. Bush, such as this one, which has a history going back to at least early 2001.

Metadata on some pages along with time stamps on the files and internet cache searches have shown that the image was online by at latest 1996.   This site claims that this photo was taken by Gunther between 1993 and 1995.   That may be an accurate date for the image, although where it was taken and whether Gunther actually took the picture at all can’t be validated.

The File:

There are actually two different scans of this image which can be found on different early pages that host the image.  One is slightly larger in resolution and size, but is cropped and the other is slightly reduced in size but shows a bit more of the image on the left side.   It appears the the original dimensions were 509 by 373 pixels and 496 by 331 pixels in jpeg format.

One of the most important clues can be found in the file itself.   Many examples of the photo have been resized or re-encoded, but the earliest known examples of both versions indicate that they were created in Adobe Photo shop version 4.0.   Version 4.0 of Photoshop was released in 1996, and was superseded by version by version 5.0 in 1998, 5.5 in 1999 and 6.0 in 2000.    It is of course possible that the whomever scanned the image did not upgrade to the next version of Photoshop right away, but it seems unlikely that the software would still be in common use by 1999 to 2000, as newer versions introduced vast improvements.

The fact that the photo was created in Photoshop does not imply that it was altered or edited.  It may simply be that Photoshop was the program used to acquire the image from a scanner.  The exact size of the photo is unknown, as early scans indicate that the resolution was 360×360 pixels for the wide version and 400×400 for the cropped version.   However, these resolutions would result in an image of only about one inch in height.   It is therefore likely that it was resized and the embedded resolution is not accurate.

The Source of the Image:

Exactly where the image came from is unknown, but a close examination of the image reveals some minor pattern speckling within the image.   This would seem to indicate that the image was scanned from printed material, such as a magazine, a text book or a color illustrated book.   It was probably NOT acquired directly from a photographic print or from camera negatives.   It also clearly was not captured from video, a news paper or a digital source.

(Of course, at the time of this photo, digital photography was in its relative infancy and was used in only a few limited circumstances and at a low resolution and quality.)

Whether or not the photo was taken by Gunther can’t be proven or disproven given the avaliable data, however the fact that it was not scanned from an original photographic print or camera negative would lend weight to the hypothesis that it was not.

Possible sources include:  A textbook, a news magazine, a book of some other type, promotional materials for a group such as Doctors without Borders or another relief group.

Conclusions:

1. The image appears to have been first scanned in 1996.  The original image may have been taken up to a few years before that.   It is likely from the early 1990’s.
2. It is possible that the image was taken in Iraq, but the claim that it was taken in Afghanistan can be rejected outright, because at the time the country was almost completely closed to outsiders
3. Any claim that it was taken in recent years or that it shows the results of the invasions of Iraq or Afghanistan are without doubt false
4. The infant in the photo is receiving proper treatment for a common medical condition
5. While it cannot be conclusively shown that the claim that Siegwart Horst Günther took the picture, it is just as likely, if not more so that it came from a publication of some type.

The Hypocrisy of Greenpeace Illustrated - Most visited post of the year and the most discussed, with a total of 144 comments

Get your damn symbols right! – Surprisingly, this one was the second place for the most visited post of the year, although not nearly as discussed, with only 36 comments.

How Homeopathy (Supposedly) Works Illustrated - Not quite at the top in terms of most visits (although it was posted relatively late in the year)  However, this post stands out as having the most link-backs of any post in DC history and has an astounding 77 Facebook links and 47 tweets and re-tweets

The Top Ten Things Environmentalists Need to Learn – Not as popular in 2009 as it was when it was first published, nearly two years ago, but this post continues to rank in the top ten and is the all time most visited and most commented post.

Depleted Uranium for Dinner – The most popular and commented post of a youtube video.   However, this was followed closely by Apollo 11 First Steps, High Quality 16mm DAC.

Visitor loyalty was above average for a blog.   More than 10% of visitors were considered “regular,” having visited several pages over the course of months.    Visitor retention was also above average, with most staying for two minutes or more.

The most prolific commenter was DV82XL.

Traffic:

The largest refereeing sites to Depleted Cranium for 2009, not including search engines are (in order of visitors):

stumbleupon.com
randi.org
thoriumenergy.blogspot.com

About 40% of visitors came from a refering site, about 30% came from search engines and about 30% came directly to Depleted Cranium in 2009.

The most common word entered into a search engine to find this site was “Organic.”   Over six thousand visitors to this site got her by searching for the word “organic” or a phrase containing it.

Other common words and phrases that resulted in traffic include the following, each of which accounted for at least a 200 hits:

Depleted cranium – The second largest search term, accounting for about three thousand hits
Depletedcranium
Depleted Uranium
Halahan Funeral Home
uranium as common as tin
russian dam failure
n1h1 conspiracy
Government Coffins
Chemtrail Facts

Geographic Overview:

The United States was, by far, the most common country for visitors to the site.   It accounts for about 60% of traffic.   The second most popular country for visitors was the United Kingdom, representing about 10% of hits.   However, Canada was a very close third, only barely being beaten out by the UK.  In the US, the most popular site for visitors was California, followed closely by New York.   Visitors were recorded from all 50 States, as well as several territories and the District of Columbia.

These countries are followed by:

Australia – About 4%
Sweden – About 2%
Germany – About 2%
Norway – Less than 1%

Australia was the most over-represented country, based on number of internet users versus number of visitors and average traffic to an English language site outside Australia.  Depleted Cranium is currently ranked number 125,148 of all websites in Australia, although this number changes frequently and for some time, it was ranked higher than 100,000.   This is twice the US and international average for the site.

The second most over-represented country was India.   While it did not rank very highly in terms of overall hits, the country is over-represented as most US-based sites only receive a very small amount of traffic from India.   Indian traffic was heavily skewed to homeopathic posts.

There were visitors recorded from nearly all countries in the world, only a few countries did not have even a single recorded visitor for 2009.  These include:

North Korea
Mauritanian
Senegal
Mali
Liberia
Sierra Leone
Congo
Turkmenistan

It is possible that some African countries are not represented because the only form of internet access is via international satellite systems or shared lines that would not register to the country.

At least a handful of visitors came from a number of exotic and noteworthy areas, including the Solomon Islands, The Marshal Islands, Iran, Iraq, The Vatican City, Kazakhstan and McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

There were a significant number of hits (at least 20) from all US national laboratories as well as several international research laboratories, such as the Canadian Chalk River Laboratories, CERN, Sellafield, Jodrell Bank and the Kaiser Wilhelm Society.    A few hits came from IP addresses that are assigned to the Nevada region of the US military and are believed to be part of a subset used by Groom Lake (Area 51).

User Equipment/Software:

More than half of visitors used Firefox as their browser.  Only about 20% used Internet Explorer.   Other popular browsers included Safari, Opera, Chrome and Konqueror.   The most popular operating system (by far) was Windows XP, followed by Windows Vista and then OSX.   However, about 6% of visitors used some form of Unix (other than OSX).   Although this would seem low, it is higher than most sites on the net.

The most popular method of connecting was cable, with DSL being a close second.   Nearly all visitors connected with a broadband connection of some type.  Only about 1% of visitors used a dial up modem.  The most common screen resolution (surprisingly) was 1280×800, accounting for about 20% of visitors.  This was followed closely by 1024×768 (XGA).  Only about two percent of visitors had a screen resolution of SVGA or lower.   Nearly all visitors had JavaScript enabled and most had flash.

There was also some traffic from mobile viewers, with iPhone being the leading mobile platform, with over 50% of mobile hits.   The most popular mobile service provider (not surprisingly) was AT&T USA.   The second was Orange Europe.    About 100 hits came from mobile satellite or from dedicated ocean-region mobile VSAT systems – these are likely attributable to ocean-going vessels.    It is possible that they could have been container ships, oil platforms or other such craft, but it’s more likely these are cruise ships.  Most cruise lines now provide broadband internet to passengers, but few shipping lines would provide such a luxury to crew.

Via the Salt Lake Tribune:

Is depleted uranium too hot for Utah site?

No.

Utah’s Radiation Control Board will dig deeper into the long-term risks of depleted uranium before it decides whether the unusual form of low-level radioactive waste warrants a moratorium.

But an attorney for EnergySolutions Inc. cautioned board members about legal and technical challenges they will face if they try banning depleted uranium temporarily or permanently.

“It’s a fairly high bar” for the board to justify a moratorium, said attorney James Holtkamp.

If you’re looking to ban depleted uranium on the grounds of safety from radiation then the answer is simple: lie. That’s the only way you can get it done. The facts are not on your side thus you simply will have to make untrue statements.
Board members said they would rather have waited for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to wrap up its own in-depth study

Waiting for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission? You will be waiting a long long long time.  The NRC has a way of not getting useful things done… ever

how much DU, as its called, can be safely buried in a shallow disposal site like EnergySolutions’ mile-square landfill in Tooele County.

However much will fit

But the that federal review could take years, and DU is already piled up at government nuclear sites and an equal amount is expected from new uranium enrichment plants coming online in the next few years. NRC estimates the total needing disposal at 1.4 million tons, with just two disposal sites available to take it: EnergySolutions and a yet-to-be-opened Texas landfill.

It doesn’t really need disposal. It can just sit there. It doesn’t take up as much space as one might think, because it’s quite heavy. Here’s an idea: why not sell the stuff for use on fork lifts or as an additive to concrete for radiation blocking applications or for other radiation-blocking applications like x-ray tubes or nuclear medicine casks?

DU in small amounts clearly falls within Class A for low-level waste, as the NRC reaffirmed a few months ago. But, because DU transforms over time to high-radon “decay” products, it actually gets more hazardous over time and peaks in danger in 1 million years.

That’s entirely deceptive – shamefully so. Depleted uranium is just uranium to start off with and in natural uranium ores, the majority of emissions are produced by daughter products like radium-226 and lead-210. The long decay cycle means that it will take upwards of one million years for the uranium to reach secular equilibrium, where it has generated all the daughters and has returned to the natural state of decay. Until then, it will be significantly LESS radioactive than the uranium that is currently in the ground.

That’s a problem for regulators.

Do they write a law that ensures the safety of public health and the environment for 100 years? A thousand years? A million?

There is no need to worry about this. There is already uranium in the environment. There always was. There is zero concern to public health. As long as the uranium is not ground up and snorted or dumped into a reservoir it will just sit there and not bother anyone. It’ll probably just be dug up for use in fast reactors eventually anyway.

“First of all, I believe the public should be protected and the environment should be protected,” said board vice chair Elizabeth Goryunova, suggesting that the board had a responsibility to consider the need for a moratorium despite hassles that might be involved in imposing one. “That’s absolutely a must.”

The “responsibility” that has fallen to the board is a pretty light one. It amounts to protecting the public from a relatively immobile, low-toxicity, extremely low activity material that is going to be sitting in a dry area in an approved landfill. As long as nobody breaks in and starts eating the uranium, there’s not much responsibility to protect anyone from anything.

Board members will hear presentations from Energy-Solutions, the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah and its legal advisors at its next meeting.

“I think it behooves us in terms of our responsibility,” said board member David Tripp, a University of Utah physicist.

Vanessa Pierce of HEAL was pleased with the board’s decision to take more time on the subject. HEAL requested the moratorium at the board’s May meeting.

Oh… well then, here come the lies.

“They’re showing good due diligence,” she said, “in how they are proceeding with this issue.”

No. Spending this much time trying to decide how to deal with something as innocuous as depleted uranium is like assembling a committee and spending several decades and several billion dollars mulling the decision of which brand of toothpaste to buy.   Yes, dental health is important, but it’s not *that* important, especially considering that all toothpastes do a fairly descent job.

If we certified aircraft this way, the DC-3 would still be waiting for an airworthiness certificate before being allowed to be flown and the wright-flyer would be receiving another “life extension overhaul” to keep it flying while a replacement was being mulled over.

JERUSALEM, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Israel denied on Wednesday its armed forces used ordnance with depleted uranium during the Gaza Strip offensive, and said that could be proven by any U.N. investigation.

Responding to a letter from Arab envoys, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Tuesday it would consult with member states on the diplomats’ demand for a probe into whether Israeli attacks on Gaza might have featured the controversial munitions, which can leave dangerous radioactive debris.

“I deny this completely,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, adding that such allegations were “no more than a recurring motif of anti-Israel propaganda”.

Israel has also been fending off accusations that it unlawfully used white-phosphorous shells, which can cause severe burns, for the 22-day assault on the Palestinian territory.

Depleted uranium is used in weapons because it can penetrate tanks and armour more easily due to its density and other physical properties.

It is a particular health risk around impact sites, where dust can get into people’s lungs and vital organs. It also has civilian uses in medical equipment and is used in radiation shields.

Israel was accused of using depleted uranium during its 2006 offensive against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. Palmor said a U.N. investigation failed to find any evidence of that.

“Should they decide to hassle the U.N. inspectors again, they’ll get the same results,” he said.

The IAEA has in the past contributed to studies on depleted uranium traces from ammunition in the Balkans which found it was highly unlikely that a reported increase in cancer risks there could be linked to the traces. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Alison Williams)

This story has been all over the news recently and in fact there hundreds of stories dealing with the accusations that Israel used depleted uranium in the weapons used in their most recent Gaza offensive.  Various Muslim countries are claiming that uranium was used in the weapons, Israel claims that there were no uranium-based munitions, the IAEA says it may investigate, human rights groups are up in arms etc etc.

Personally, I don’t know enough about the recent raid to know whether or not it was justified and whether or not it was carried out within reasonable constraints to avoid undue civillian impact.  Israel has been fighting for most of its history to just have some basic safety and lets not forget that the West Bank and Gaza Strip are filled with militants who would not be allowed to continue to exist in any other context period.

I tend to doubt that the weapons used in the most recent skirmish contained uranium.  DU tends to be reserved for armor-penitrators because of the unique physical characteristics of the material that make it perfect for cutting through a tank like a hot knife through butter.   However, it is possible that a few armor penitrator rounds may have been used or that DU may have been incorporated into the ballast of a bomb or the nose of a projectile, either to add weight or improve penetration capabilities or both.   Much as I doubt it, it’s not beyond the relhm of possibility.

So why does it matter?   It doesn’t!  If Israel was justified in firing a projectile then it was justified in firing a depleted uranium projectile.   If it was unjustified, the use of depleted uranium makes it no better or worse.   Simply being radioactive and being made into a kind of boogie-man does not actually make a DU round especially dangerous or sinister.   However you judge the actions of Israel, it should be consistent whether the rounds were depleted uranium, tungsten, lead, bismuth or a combination thereof.

It’s amazing to see how the Muslim press has going with this though.  They’ve been making the uranium thing the big issue, describing how the Israelis are busy pumping uranium into civilian populations and thus killing babies.   Of course, the reality is that lies like this only make the situation worse.   Not only is it just more propaganda against the infidels, but it’s likely to only worsen the plight of those innocent individuals who were injured.   Perhaps if they stopped worrying about the ionizing energy that uranium emits they might take a second to realize that occasionally the kinetic energy that a round carries does cause injury to the wrong people.  But no, they’re too busy chasing ghosts to actually consider the value of the truth.   This is, after all, the most immoral and filthy religion on the face of the earth.  (which is really an achievement given how bad the others are too.)

If the Muslim world actually had a shred of decency they might also consider mentioning that the gorilla fighters and militant forces have a nasty tendency to hide behind schools and hospitals.  But no, just shift the blame and obscure the real issue by harping on these silly lies about the dangers of uranium, a common naturally-occurring metal.

For those who don’t understand why this doesn’t matter, check out the depleted uranium information here.

From the New Haven Register:

Uranium found in Madison water

MADISON — District officials will disable all water fountains at two schools and supply bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes after the schools’ water tested positive for elevated uranium levels.

Superintendent of Schools David Klein advised parents Friday that uranium, a mildly radioactive substance that can cause kidney disease, was found Thursday in water at both Kathleen H. Ryerson Elementary School and Dr. Robert H. Brown Middle School.

The uranium level was found to be 110 parts per billion, more than three times the standard accepted by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for public water systems that supply homes, Klein said.

There is no standard for schools, and no testing is required for schools, said Brian Toal, an epidemiologist at the state Department of Public Health.

The tests were done after an anonymous source told school officials Oct. 28 that elevated uranium levels were found in the groundwater at a nearby property.

The Department of Public Health does not expect people who consumed the water to suffer any adverse health effects, Toal said Friday.

As a precaution, town employees will disconnect all water fountains this weekend and begin using water coolers in the halls and kitchens beginning Monday and until further notice, Klein said.

“I think the school district is responding very thoughtfully. We’ve responded expeditiously, and I think we’ve put together a plan, starting Monday, that is all about the safety of the occupants of the schools,” he said.

For the first week, the coolers will cost the school district about $555, Director of Facilities Bill McMinn said. He said he will determine future orders based on consumption.

No other Madison schools were affected because their water is provided by the Connecticut Water Company, which tests for uranium and other impurities, Klein and Department of Public Health Director John Bowers said.

Toal said students and staff exposed to the uranium need not take any action.

He said he has seen levels in Connecticut of more than 1,000 parts per billion not cause adverse effects.

“We just don’t want people, parents, to be overly concerned. If their children were drinking a reasonable amount of water, … we would not expect any adverse effects and there’s no medical testing that would be recommended or even be useful,” Toal said.

Usually, in situations when there are elevated uranium levels, building owners drill a new well or install a filtration device, Toal said.

“We will be continuing to talk to the state Health Department about any further action that we can take,” Bowers said. “Treatment is going to be very difficult.”

Klein said he has not determined the probable cost of supplying water to the schools, and remedying the uranium levels, or where the money would come from in the budget.

“We just wanted to make sure we did the responsible thing and we will find the money to do the right thing,” Klein said.

Several parents Friday said that although they were somewhat concerned about the uranium levels, they were confident in the administration’s ability to handle the problem.

Maggie Mayer, a parent of students at both schools, said that while she found the news startling, she trusted that the situation would be handled and would not result in any health problems for her children.

“I think what did concern me is the possibility that they haven’t been testing the water all along,” Mayer said, adding that she wished school officials had taken action when the tip came in Oct. 28. “I understand that they probably didn’t even think that this was a concern, but that’s two more weeks of exposure that the kids didn’t need to have.”

A meeting, where residents can ask questions and discuss concerns, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday in the Brown Middle School auditorium.

It was mentioned on the news that the “source of the uranium has not yet been determined.”   Well, I can tell you what the source is right now:  the local geology.   Yes, that’s right.   Uranium, as far as minerals go, is just not rare at all.  It’s actually quite common to find uranium in a variety of rock and soil types.

The fact that the levels are “three times higher” than the federal standard for residential drinking water shouldn’t really be any reason for concern.   The standards are set very conservatively and considering that most kids would be limited to a few sips from a drinking fountain, the exposure is basically neglidgable.   110 ppb is a bit higher than normal but still not really high enough to really get worried about.

Another thing to consider is that many of the students from this school likely go home to drink from wells that have just as much uranium in the water, if not more.   All things considered, bringing in bottled water seems a bit silly and expensive.   However, I can’t fault the school for feeling the need to.   I’m sure that if they did not immediately shut off the “uranium” water fountains there would be plenty of parents screaming bloody murder about it.

Of course, if you go by the word of those who believe that Iraq, Afgahnistan and Bosnia are all contaminated forever and full of victums of depleted uranium, then shouldn’t all the students be dead by now?   Or at least have some kind of hideous tumor growing on their head or something?   Guess not.