Depleted uranium I: Natural uranium, radioactivity and legal regulation

Abstract

Depleted uranium is a highly toxic and low radioactive waste; an off-product of the uranium enrichment process and represents dangerous radioactive waste for man and the environment. Up to the 1970-ies was stored, but from the beginning of the seventies it has been used for missile hard core production which seems to be very efficient for armor brakes (penetration). But except for its immediate efficiency, for which there is no dought, depleted uranium remains at the location in the form of tiny particles and smog as an "invisible threat", being almost permanently dangerous for people and environment (4,5-109 years). That is the reason of the great publicity, which in the last decade, from the Gulf War (1991) when munition with depleted uranium was massively used for the first time, which grew into a real campaign against this munition which is unselective, inhumane and causes consequences for both the conquered and conquerors. In the name of humanity, the environment and finally the protection of life on Earth, the campaign has lead to a proposal to ban its usage. On the other - hand, from the military viewpoint, these are - ideal weapons. As the ideal - does not exist, in a series of papers we shall try to present the cycle of depleted uranium movement, from the separation of unusable material (which implies expensive for storage, but cheal almost free of cost, for giving to possible users) in the process of nuclear fuel enrichment to use for munitions production. The last stage is not complete consequences of the use of munitions with depleted uranium, because they are unpredictable, unselective and eternal. In the first part of the serial the fundamental terms connected with the process of radiation to which people are permanently exposed are given and also legal regulations for health protection. Also, a review of all the terms connected with radiation are given, as well as the scale of degrees of human exposure to radiation. A review of the properties of uranium, as the last element of the periodical system of elements which can be found in nature, its origin and migration in the environment are also given, and the data for natural and depleted uranium compared. Finally, the origin and structure of nuclear fuel is given with strict emphasis of the fact that it is waste material.

Osiromašeni uranijum je toksičan, nus proizvod procesa obogaćivanja uranijuma i predstavlja vrlo opasan radioaktivni otpad. Sve do sedamdesetih godina XX veka bio je skladišten, da bi početkom sedamdesetih počeo da se koristi za izradu tvrdog jezgra (penetratora) projektila. Međutim, osim trenutne efikasnosti koja nije sporna, osiromašeni uranijum, u vidu veoma sitnih čestica i aerosola predstavlja opasnost po ljude i životnu sredinu gotovo večito (4,5 , 10g godina). To je i razlog velikog publiciteta koji je poslednje decenije XX veka, od Zalivskog rata 1991. god. kada su projektili sa osiromašenim uranijumom prvi put masovno upotrebljeni, prerastao u pravu kampanju protiv ove municije koja je neselektivna, nehumana i izaziva posledice i kod pobednika i kod pobeđenih. U ime zaštite ljudi, životne sredine i života na Zemlji uopšte, vodi se kampanja za potpunu zabranu korišćenja osiromašenog uranijuma, koji je, sa druge strane, po vojnim kriterijuma - idealan. U nekoliko radova prikazaće se ciklus kretanja osiromašenog uranijuma, od odvajanja kao beskorisnog materijala pri procesu obogaćivanja nuklearnog goriva do primene za izradu municije. Poslednja etapa - posledice primene municije punjene sa osiromašenim uranijumom jesu i biće predmet mnogih izučavanja i analiza u budućnosti. U ovom radu dati su osnovni pojmovi vezani za proces zračenja kojem je čovek neprekidno izložen, kao i zakonska regulativa koja se odnosi na zaštitu čoveka od zračenja. Takođe, dat je prikaz svih pojmova koji se odnose na zračenje, kao i normativi stepena izloženosti čoveka zračenju. Analiziraju se, između ostalog, svojstva uranijuma kao poslednjeg elementa u periodnom sistemu elemenata koji se nalazi u prirodi, njegovo poreklo i migracija u životnoj sredini, pri čemu su upoređeni podaci vezani za prirodni i osiromašeni uranijum. Na kraju, daje se nastanak i sastav osiromašenog uranijuma koji nastaje pri procesu kruženja u nuklearnom gorivnom ciklusu, gde se decidirano podvlači da je to otpadni materijal.