Monday 15 September 2003

Depleted Uranium : A Perspective

From Steven Den Beste :
I know that if the inside of my home was lined with DU foil, then my exposure to radiation would decrease because it would reduce my exposure to cosmic rays without contributing any significant radiation of its own.
Well, yes.

But some people prefer Tinfoil Helmets if it suits a particular political agenda.

A human body is more radioactive than an equal mass of depleted uranium because a human body contains carbon-14 and potassium-40, whereas U-238 has such a long half-life as to be almost non-radioactive.
I'd have to check these figures, but they sound about right.

That's not to say that Depleted Uranium is entirely non-radioactive. But it does put the issue in perspective.

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