Depleted uranium, III: Commercial application of depleted uranium: Manufacturers of ammunition and weapons with depleted uranium

Abstract

Depleted uranium is a highly toxic and low radioactive waste produced during the uranium enrichment process. Up to the seventies of the XX century it was stored and has also been used for making missile hard cores, which is very efficient for armor penetration. However, except for its immediate efficiency, for which there is no doubt, depleted uranium contaminates the location in the form of tiny particles and smog as an "invisible threat", dangerous for peo­ple and the environment almost forever (4.5 , 109 years). That is the reason for the great publicity, which in the last decade, from the Gulf War (1991) on wards, when munitions with depleted uranium were mas­sively applied for the first time, escalated in to a real campaign against its use as an unselective, inhuman and dangerous material which causes con­sequences for both the conquered and conquerors. In the name of humanity, the environment and the quality of life on Earth, a campaign has been led with the goal of banning its usage. The cycle of depleted uranium movement, from the separation of unusable material in the process of nuclear fuel enrichment to its use for munitions pro­duction has been presented. In a series of three papers published in Chemi­cal Industry (No 4, 5 and 10, 2001). This paper, as the third part of the series, gives information about the produ­cers of ammunition with depleted uranium of all sizes (caliber) and all the fi­elds and test areas where such kinds of munitions have been tested in the past.

U trećem delu serije posvećene problematici osiromašenog uranijuma navode se proizvođači municije koja u svom sastavu sadrži i osiromašeni uranijum. Analiziraju se tipovi municije, najčešće primenjeni kalibri municije kao i poligoni na kojima je municija testirana.