McTag wrote:Depleted uranium in ordnance- I read in this thread from Oralloy (he who shrugs) that "the area around a knocked-out tank can be cleaned up"
I was saying it
should be cleaned up. Or at least that was what I meant to say.
Why not?
At the worst, they could just haul away the topsoil some distance around tanks, and store it at some hazardous waste site.
McTag wrote:and how many of shells fired hit their intended target? (How many actually have a discrete target?) The shells go everywhere.
The bullets fired from an A-10 probably go everywhere. But I'd think the large DU slugs fired from other tanks would usually find their mark.
However, if the bullet misses, it isn't a problem. It just gets buried deeply in the ground.
The part that would need to be cleaned up is the fine dust that is left over from burning DU after a successful strike (DU ashes, essentially).
It is this dust that should be cleaned up.
McTag wrote:There has been a huge increase in babies born with physical defects, serious defects, and stillborn babies, in Afghanistan and Iraq due to the effects of radiation from depleted uranium shells.
I am skeptical that there has been such an increase.
And I know that if there is any such increase, nothing has credibly linked it to DU.
The radiation is exceedingly minimal.