Uranium, Depleted

Dense, mildly radioactive metal that is primarily used in the production of U.S. munitions. Depleted uranium (DU) is created as a waste product when the radioactive isotope U-235 is extracted from natural uranium ore. This U-235 uranium is used as a fuel in nuclear power plants and in the production of some nuclear armaments.

Depleted uranium consists of natural uranium minus the U-235 isotope. As a waste product, DU is plentiful and extremely costly to dispose of because of its radioactivity. As a result, arms manufacturers can obtain DU for minimal or even no cost.

Because DU is exceptionally dense, it is used in the production of tank armor, armored clothing, cruise missiles, aircraft, and bombs designed to destroy metal or metal-frame bunkers. It is also manufactured as a coating on ammunition and other armaments. Munitions coated with DU can easily penetrate metal and are readily combustible.

The U.S. defense industry began using DU in 1977, but DU-enhanced armaments were not used in combat until the Gulf War in 1991. They have since been used in the Bosnia and Kosovo interventions, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War of 2003. The benefits of DU on the battlefield were demonstrated in the Gulf War when DU-coated artillery, tank bombs, and ammunition deployed by the United States and coalition forces destroyed at least 1,000 Iraqi tanks. By contrast, not one U.S. DU-coated Abrams tank was knocked out.

Questions have been raised since the Persian Gulf War about the impact of DU on human health and the environment. Some scientists, medical experts, and Gulf War veterans believe that exposure to DU causes a variety of health problems, including cancer. European NATO veterans of the Bosnian conflict have made similar charges. The U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Veterans Administration, the United Nations, and NATO have each conducted investigations exploring these claims. Both the Defense Department and NATO have concluded that the risk to human health from DU is negligible in most cases. In situations of extreme exposure, experts recommend that the involved soldiers receive medical follow-up for evidence of excessive uranium ingestion. Such exposure has occurred when soldiers in armored vehicles accidentally have been hit by DU-coated missiles fired by friendly units and when troops have been involved in clearing away destroyed DU-coated tanks.

Although the U.S. military and many medical experts maintain that DU poses no significant threat to human health, DU in sufficient concentrations can contaminate soil and water supplies. The U.S. Army has estimated that a cleanup of its weapons-testing site at the Jefferson Proving Ground in Indiana, where 77 tons of DU ordnance has been deployed, will cost at least $1 billion. The World Health Organization has also identified a number of locations in Bosnia and Kosovo that require cleanup.