1. People Recently in Gaoled
2. Uranium Mined
3. Shipped Overseas
4. Enriched and Depleted Uranium Formed
5. Storage of Depleted Uranium
6. Depleted of Radioactivity?
7. How Radioactive is Depleted Uranium?
8. Uses of Depleted Uranium
9. Depleted Uranium in Aircraft
10. Depleted Uranium Weapons
11. Depleted Uranium in Iraq
12. Depleted Uranium in Kosovo
13. Depleted Uranium accidents

• Jabiluka Ploughshares:
 
Treena Lenthal and Ciaron O'Reilly.
 
Spent 66 days In Berrimah gaol, Darwin for unpaid costs following their
disabling of an excavator at the Jabiluka mine site, Nagasaki Day 1998.
In: 17 Jan 2000; Out: 23 Mar 2000.

• Ploughshares vs Depleted Uranium:

 
19 Dec 1999, USA: Warfield Air National Guard Airbase in Essex, Maryland:
Philip Berrigan, Susan Crane, Rev. Steve Kelly S.J. and Elizabeth Walz
disarmed two A-10 anti-tank "Warthog" aircraft -- hammering on the Gatling gun
that fires radioactive DU bullets.

Currently serving sentences:
Philip Berrigan: prosecution asked for 6 to 12 months,

despite Philip being over 70 years old, the judge sentenced him to 30 months in prison.
Susan Crane: prosecution asked for 2 to 9 months, the judge sentenced her to 27 months.
Rev Steve Kelly: prosecution asked for 2 to 9 months, the judge sentenced him to 27 months.
Elizabeth Walz: prosecution asked for 0 to 1 month, the judge sentenced her to 18 months.
 

Radio Reports of the disarming:
Democracy Now! Radio:
      Initial Report with Background (20/12/1999)
      Philip Berrigan Interviewed from Gaol (17/3/2000)
      Trial and Sentencing (28/3/2000)

• Other Links:

    The Nuclear Resistor
    Trident Ploughshares 2000

• Mined Uranium is the form of Yellowcake: U₃O₈
• Uranium is mined in Australia at:

       Ranger in Kakadu, Northern Territory.
       Roxby Downs (aka Olympic Dam), South Australia.
       Beverley in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. (Not yet operating commmercially.)
 
• Constructed mine currently on hold:
        Jabiluka in Kakadu, Northern Territory.
  
  
• Mine close to construction:

       Honeymoon, South Australia.

• More Info can be found at http://www.sea-us.org.au:

    Ranger mine
    Roxby mine
     Jabiluka mine
    Beverley mine
    Honeymoon mine

• The Yellowcake is shipped to France, South Korea, UK, Japan, Spain, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, Canada and the USA.
• Australia produces 18% of the world's supply of Uranium.
• In 1999 the USA received 1500 tonnes of Yellowcake, containing 1272 tonnes of Uranium.

• Source: Uranium Information Centre (www.sea-us.org.au link) and calculations by the author.

• Yellowcake in the USA is converted to UF₆ gas and then enriched by the US Enrichment Corporation at gaseous diffusion plants located near Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio. (USEC has recently announced the closure of the Paducah plant.)
• The gas is separated into two streams: enriched and depleted.
• 15% becomes Enriched Uranium: used as fuel in nuclear reactors.
• 85% becomes Depleted Uranium (DU): nuclear waste.
• So 1500 tonnes of Yellowcake becomes 1075 tonnes of Depleted Uranium and 197 tonnes of Enriched Uranium.
• Thus, 85% of Australia's Uranium is not used in reactors but is turned straight into nuclear waste.

• Source: Official UF6 Management Program and calculations by the author.
• Link: WISE Uranium Enrichment Tails Upgrading Calculator

• The 1075 tonnes of DU from Australia in 1999 get stored in three locations with the rest of the USA's DU.
• The US Department of Energy has 704,000 tonnes of DU stored in 57,634 cylinders at Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Paducah, Kentucky and Portsmouth, Ohio. (Dec '97 figures)
• Not all of the USA's DU remains in storage. Military and civilian applications are increasingly being found for nuclear waste.

 
• Source: Official UF6 Management Program, Starmet Corporation

• DU is radioactive. So why is it called depleted?
  
  
• The potentially misleading terms "depleted" and "enriched" refer to the amount of Uranium-235, not the amount of radioactivity. This is because it is the Uranium-235 that allows Uranium to be used in nuclear reactors or in bombs.
• DU has less Uranium-235 than Yellowcake, i.e. it is depleted in Uranium-235. (As a result it has more Uranium-238 than Yellowcake. Both Uranium-235 and Uranium-238 are radioactive.)

 
• Enriched Uranium has more Uranium-235 and less Uranium-238 than Yellowcake. It is enriched in Uranium-235.
  
  
• Uses:
• Enriched Uranium can be used in nuclear reactors.
• Highly Enriched Uranium can be used in weapons or nuclear reactors. (It currently undergoes dilution with DU before being used in reactors.)
• Depleted Uranium cannot be used as fuel in a nuclear reactor or a bomb unless it undergoes enrichment.Current being used in tank shells and bullets, as an aircraft counterweight and as shielding.

• 1 g of Uranium in Yellowcake emits around 25600 alpha particles every second.
• 1 g of newly created DU emits around 14600 alpha particles every second.
• So immediately after the enrichment process DU is 57% as radioactive as Yellowcake Uranium. However, DU's radioactivity increases in the first year after enrichment, and increases again after 10,000 years.

• This is because Uranium produces many other radioactive substances that must also be taken into account. For example the radioactive Thorium present in DU is 97% as radioactive as that in Yellowcake. If you want to know why, read on.

• When an atom of Uranium emits an alpha particle it turns into an atom of radioactive Thorium.
• So in pure Uranium, the amount of Thorium increases as time passes.
• Thorium is also radioactive. Over time each Thorium atom emits a beta particle and turns into Proactinium.
• The amount of Thorium increases until it reaches a balance point. This is when the amount of Uranium turning into Thorium is about the same as the amount of Thorium turning into Proactinium. i.e. when the amount of Thorium being produced is pretty much the same as the amount of Thorium decaying.

• For DU this balance point occurs after about a year and remains at this point for about 10 million years. During this time the Thorium emits about 12600 beta particles every second.
• For Yellowcake this balance point also occurs after about a year, with Thorium emitting around 12900 beta particles every second.
• So although the Uranium in DU is 57% as radioactive as Uranium in Yellowcake, the Thorium in DU is 97% as radioactive as the Thorium in Yellowcake.

• Uranium and Thorium are just the beginning of the picture. Next comes radioactive Proactinium and about a dozen more radioactive substances.

 
• More Info: WISE: Uranium Radiation Properties
                 WISE: Uranium Decay Calculator

 
• Source: Calculations by the author (rather than by using WISE).

• Storage of Radioactive material costs money, so uses are being found for DU.
• As Uranium is 1.7 times as dense as lead, it is being used as a replacement for lead and other heavy metals.

• Starmet (Formerly Nuclear Metals Inc) makes products from DU, including Radiation Shields, Aircraft Ballast and Weapons.
• Alliant Techsystems Inc and other companies also make weapons from DU.
• Submissions to a recent US government report suggested other uses for DU such as flywheels.

• Links: Starmet DU Products

• Depleted Uranium has been used in Boeing 747s to balance the aircraft's centre of gravity.

• On 4th October 1992 an El Al Boeing 747, containing at least 380kg of DU, crashed in Amsterdam.
• The resulting fire may have been hot enough for Uranium to burn, producing Uranium Oxide, which can be inhaled.
• The LAKA foundation estimate that 225kg of depleted Uranium is still unaccounted for.

 
• Link: LAKA foundation: Uranium pollution from the Amsterdam 1992 plane crash

• Alliant Techsystems Inc makes M1A1 tank shells which contains DU.

• They also make bullets: GAU-8/A ammunition for the A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft.
• On impact, Uranium can ignite, incinerating people inside tanks. DU can also form into particles that can be carried through the air.

• Links: Alliant Techsystems: M1A1 tank ammunition, GAU-8/A ammunition

• DU shells and bullets were used during the Gulf War.

 
• This left around 300 tonnes of Uranium scattered around regions of Iraq.

• Bullets containing DU are still lying around in Iraq. The US has not warned Iraqis that handling these bullets means handling radioactive waste, so children play with them.

• US Gulf War veterans have tested positive to the presence of Uranium in their bodies

• Parts of Iraq have seen an inexplicable increase in birth defects: cause unknown.
• US Gulf War veterans have had children with similar birth defects: cause unknown.

 
• Calls for medical investigation into DU are increasing.
• Dr Doug Rokke, former head of the US military's DU clean up project in Iraq, claims US military told him to lie about DU in Iraq. He also claims that even today the US military continue to tell him to "cease and desist" his continuing DU work of seeking medical assistance for veterans and environmental clean up. Dr Rokke also speaks of a shot fired through a bedroom window of his home and the later ransacking of his home. Patricia Axelrod, a military scientist who specializes in weapons systems analysis, took radiation readings in Yugoslavia and alleges that the US used DU, not just in A-10 rounds, but also in missiles.
  Listen to an interview: Democracy Radio 30/5/2000
  
  
  
• Links:
         Voices in the Wilderness
         National Gulf War Resource Centre, Inc (USA)

• Despite many unanswered questions about the effects of depleted Uranium, DU weapons were used in NATO's attacks on Kosovo and Yugoslavia with the firing of at least 31,000 rounds.

• Officially any dangers have not been acknowledged, but warnings have been issued.

• In 1994, 400 rounds of DU bullets were accidentally given to police. They fired 100 of the rounds at a firing range. This was not realised for three years. So the firing range contained about 0.5 kg of Uranium for three years and nobody knew. The Report.

 
• Vieques, Puerto Rico, 19th Feb 1999: Two US Harrier Aircraft accidentally fired 263 rounds, each containing 148 grams of DU, at the Vieques Naval Range. Initially only 57 rounds were recovered. First Report. Until recently around 100-200 Puerto Ricans were occupying the range in protest, preventing it from being used by the US military. These are the "unauthorised individuals" mentioned in this report.