So we worry about dirty bombs and nuclear bombs getting in the hands of terrorists, but at the same time send tanks loaded with depleted uranium shielding into iraq.
At the time we first sent them our viewpoint was the armour was so tough (due to the depleted uranium) that it would be a rare event to lose one. We had no idea that the IED's would be so big, that we are losing tanks like everything else.
I read on wiki that depleted uranium is use as a neutron reflector in making nuclear weapons. So, are we helping our enemy?
2006-11-03 22:16:44 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
I am not suggesting they can process the depleted uranium so it can undergo fission, but ask if as a neutron reflector which lowers the required amount of plutonium needed in an atom bomb. So, Iran or N. Korera for example could make 2 twice as many bomb as they otherwise could. Are we letting the blown up tanks just sit out there for them to salvage?
2006-11-04 12:13:04 · update #1
Nothing to worry about. The main reason for using depleted uranium is mass. It makes excellent armor and at the same time doesn't have to be thick.
2006-11-03 22:41:35 · answer #1 · answered by luosechi 駱士基 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, aluminum is used in the casing and plastic in the wires... DU is not a hard substance to come by; a terrorist or nation would not have to scrounge it from tanks. The part of a nuclear weapon that terrorists and wanna-be nuclear states around the world need is a fissionable material for the core; the primary explosive, if you will (I am overly generalizing, but that is OK for the purposes of this answer.) That is why the world gets so upset when a nation like N.Korea starts enriching uranium. Enriched, as opposed to depleted, uranium is fissionable.
Insofar as weapons being used against us, I have heard of unused shells from tanks being rigged as IEDs.
Anyhow, the armor on our tanks contains DU as an ingredient. It is mixed with other substances and the formula is a national secret. The armor piercing shells those tanks fire, however, are DU. Whenever a shell is fired, some DU is vaporized and becomes aerosol around the vehicle. Same as the high concentrations of lead in the air at a normal shooting range. While not healthy, the DU is such a small source of radiation that it is thought to be OK for our troops to ride about for years in these vehicles loaded with these shells. It can't be too bad. It certainly would not be effective as a 'dirty bomb'.
2006-11-03 22:40:44 · answer #2 · answered by aaeon 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Ummm.... wow keepitsafe is an idiot. Even the person with the most basic understanding of the Abrams, would know that it is extremely tough armored and the back is in fact, much thicker than the side armour. He does not know what he is talking about. The Abrams have taken TANK SHELLS from Iraqi tanks from 40 meters away strait to the side of the tank and have no penetration, and no crew members killed.
Too answer your question, no the terrorists can't. The shell that they fire has DEPLETED (not enriched) uranium.
2006-11-04 00:04:37 · answer #3 · answered by Tim 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I was watching GI factory where they make the abraham tank. The people that worked there where normal civilian like us. If that stuff was that bad then I'm sure they would have US guards posted everywhere. Well at least I hope..
2006-11-03 22:26:24 · answer #4 · answered by jack 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, and DU is so expensive and difficult to process and work with they wouldn't be able to do anything with it if they did have some!
P.S. And our Abrams tanks suck, they can easily be disabled by an RPG or a handgrenade from behind.
2006-11-03 22:20:40 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋