Joseph Herbert on fri 2 may 03
Brian Molanphy wrote: “can anyone say what exactly is ceramic here? some
part of the munitions aside from the d.u., or the d.u. itself?”
The depleted uranium used in munitions is in the form of metal, uranium
metal. Since ceramic chemistry is all oxide chemistry, the uranium metal
does not qualify as ceramic. However, the way the depleted uranium bullet
or sabot round works is by rapid oxidation upon contact with the target.
This burning produces the uranium oxide that causes the contamination
problems. The uranium oxide is in the form of very fine particles that are
easily transported by air currents. The particles start off in the air as a
result of that burning on impact thing. The uranium oxide does fit into the
ceramic category (being an oxide) and has been used to make yellow/orange
glaze (Fiesta Ware) and smoky glass.
The presence of plutonium or fission products in uranium bullets or sabot
rounds depends on the source of the uranium: natural uranium can be depleted
of the fissionable U235 leaving U238 with no attendant interesting
additions; uranium processed from irradiated fuel rods will contain some
amount of the indicated goodies, depending on the efficiency of separation.
The presence of the shorter half life elements in the munitions would make
the potential consequences of inhaling the dust from the target area more
dire than if it were Uranium 238 alone.
Perhaps the ceramic confusion come from the fact that commercial reactor
fuel is made as Uranium Oxide as ceramic pellets. In this country, no
commercial power reactor fuel is re-processed so there is none of that
uranium involved in the weapons. The US government, however, ran reactors
for plutonium production for years, keeping us safe by making more atomic
bombs. The uranium in those reactors was in metallic form and was processed
to remove plutonium and fission products. Once the remaining uranium as
recovered from the chemical process, it would be reduced to metal again and
put back into the reactor to make more plutonium. This kind of uranium
would have small percentages of plutonium and fission products present. The
amount present would depend on the efficiency of the separation process.
There is a stunningly large amount of both kinds of uranium around. Both of
the bomb making fissionable materials were extracted or made on a grams per
ton basis. Both kinds of materials are required in about 10 pound
quantities for one bomb. About 5000 grams, give or take. If I can get 200
grams from a ton of uranium, that might require processing 20 tons of
uranium to get one bomb’s worth of Plutonium. U235 occurs at about 0.7%
levels in natural uranium so it requires processing about 1 ton of uranium
for one bomb. You may remember we had 30,000 bombs at one point. There is
a lot of uranium around in various forms.
Joseph Herbert
| |
|
