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Stephanie S.

Yep, it's been said. S2 explained how they now "recycle" that radiocative waste. Honestly, I don't quite get how they take tons of something lethal and recycle it to make it harmless, but hey, I'm not a nuclear physicist.

peace

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"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." —George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005 (Listen to audio)

 

S2

In very simple terms think of spent fuel that has say 95% Uranium 235 distributed evenly throughout, then spin it in a centrifuge and the heavier U235 concentrates in the "bottom" and the lighter less radioactive material winds up in the top. You can then take that portion with the enriched U235 and use as fuel again--you do wind up with waste but the waste is very low level and the hot stuff is separated and reused-- This is a far cry from the actual process- but the mechanics are there for you to viualize it. it does not recycle all the fuel, it concentrates useable fuel and creates waste with much lower levels of radiation

MickityMike

Here's a link on why I don't think DU's quite the big deal that it's often made to be. DU is harmful if ingested, this is true... So we should all try real hard to not do that. As most, but unfortunately not all, adult humans do fairly well at not eating toxic substances like lead, so they will do at not eating DU.

There have been some ‘hysterical’ (IMO) claims about DU-related cancer (and other forms of terminal illness) all throughout southern Iraq following the First Gulf War in 1991. Yet many times more DU projectiles were discharged in Kuwait than southern Iraq, and rather than see a much higher rate of illness we actually saw a completely normal rate: one approaching zero.

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I'd be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons. - Glenn Reynolds

^_^truth

It happened again: I am caught agreeing with MickityMike.


The issue of DU is more or less, myth and not factual. Sure if the amount of DU in an area was large enough to produce the amount of radiation it could cause some damage, but I don't think that much DU was used in the Gulf War.

Now if DU was used in say, WW2 and every bullet had DU in it, we might need to consister the side-effects.

However, were I think differ with Mickity is that I believe that the usage of DU in the form of easy to fire rounds vilates the Genvea Conventions concerning baned weapons, in that DU is a chemical substance that can poision those that are injured by the bullets.

But hey what do I know?

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Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.
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MickityMike

DU projectiles are usually rather large in caliber, and meant for use against armored targets. Consequently, any individual soldier shot by a DU round won't have to worry too much about being poisoned, as most likely there won't be much left to poison.