Editing Depleted uranium (section)

{{short description|Uranium with lower content of <sup>235</sup>U}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
[[File:30mm DU slug.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.2|The DU penetrator of a [[30 mm caliber|30 mm]] round<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library/du_balkans/fig1.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070412120641/http://www.deploymentlink.osd.mil/du_library/du_balkans/fig1.htm |archive-date=12 April 2007 |title=Figure 1. DU penetrator from the A-10 30mm round |date=12 April 2007 |access-date=4 September 2013}}</ref>]]
{{Pollution sidebar|Radiation}}

'''Depleted uranium''' ('''DU'''), also referred to in the past as '''Q-metal''', '''depletalloy''', or '''D-38'''<sub>,</sub> is [[uranium]] with a lower content of the [[fissile]] [[isotope]] [[Uranium-235|<sup>235</sup>U]] than natural uranium.<ref name = "McDiarmid 2001 123"/> The less radioactive and non-fissile [[Uranium-238|<sup>238</sup>U]] is the main component of depleted uranium.

Uranium is notable for the extremely high [[density]] of its metallic form: at {{convert|19.1|g/cm3|lk=on}}, uranium is {{percentage|68.4|100|1}} more dense than [[lead]]. Depleted uranium, which has about the same density as natural uranium, is used when this high density is desirable but the higher radioactivity of natural uranium is not. Civilian uses include counterweights in aircraft, radiation shielding in medical [[radiation therapy]], research and industrial [[radiography]] equipment, and containers for transporting radioactive materials.  Military uses include [[Vehicle armour|armor plating]] and [[Armor-piercing shot and shell|armor-piercing projectiles]].

The use of DU in [[munitions]] is controversial because of concerns about potential long-term health effects.<ref name=Miller/><ref name=Pattison/> Normal functioning of the [[kidney]], [[Human brain|brain]], [[liver]], [[Human heart|heart]], and numerous other systems can be affected by exposure to uranium, a [[Metal toxicity|toxic metal]].<ref name=Craft/> It is only weakly [[radioactive]] because of the long [[half-life|radioactive half-life]] of <sup>238</sup>U (4.468 × 10<sup>9</sup> or 4,468,000,000 years) and the low amounts of <sup>234</sup>U (half-life about 246,000 years) and <sup>235</sup>U (half-life 700 million years). The [[biological half-life]] (the average time it takes for the human body to eliminate half the amount in the body) for uranium is about 15 days.<ref>{{cite web
 |url= http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/biohalf.html#c2
 |title= Biological Half Lives
 |publisher= Georgia State University, US
}}</ref> The [[aerosol]] or [[spallation]] [[frangible]] powder produced by impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions (or armour) can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites, leading to possible inhalation by human beings.<ref name=Mitsakou/>

The actual level of [[acute toxicity|acute]] and [[chronic toxicity]] of DU is also controversial. Several studies using [[tissue culture|cultured cells]] and laboratory [[rodents]] suggest the possibility of [[leukemia|leukemogenic]], [[gene]]tic, [[reproduction|reproductive]], and [[neurological]] effects from chronic exposure.<ref name=Miller/> According to an article in [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]], DU from American artillery is suspected to be one of the major causes of an increase in the general mortality rate in Iraq since 1991.<ref name=jaz1>{{cite news |last1=Jamail |first1=Dahr |title=Iraq's wars, a legacy of cancer |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/03/2013315171951838638.html |access-date=29 November 2018 |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=16 March 2013}}</ref> A 2005 [[epidemiology]] review concluded "In aggregate the human epidemiological evidence is consistent with increased risk of birth defects in offspring of persons exposed to DU."<ref name=Hindin/> A 2021 study concluded that DU from exploding munitions did not lead to [[Gulf War illness]] in American veterans deployed in the [[Gulf War]].<ref name="SciTechDaily 2021"/> According to a 2013 study, despite the use of DU by coalition forces in [[Fallujah]], [[Iraq]], no DU has been found in soil samples taken from the city,<ref name=Fathi/> although another study of 2011 had indicated elevated levels of uranium in tissues of the city inhabitants.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alaani |first1=Samira |last2=Tafash |first2=Muhammed |last3=Busby |first3=Christopher |last4=Hamdan |first4=Malak |last5=Blaurock-Busch |first5=Eleonore |title=Uranium and other contaminants in hair from the parents of children with congenital anomalies in Fallujah, Iraq |journal=Conflict and Health |date=December 2011 |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=15 |doi=10.1186/1752-1505-5-15 |pmid=21888647 |pmc=3177876 |doi-access=free }}</ref>