The Foreign Service Journal, May 2005

to anyone who can pay for them. This is an issue that cries out for global control — for a “Montreal Protocol” for the control of DU munitions. A Quick Chemistry Lesson Our military has replaced lead with depleted uranium in some of its armaments (30-mm ammunition on aircraft; 120-mm cannons on tanks). It made the switch because uranium offers an exponentially greater destructive capa- bility than does lead, giving our troops a vital edge. We can all agree that our troops must have every advantage that will give them victory and survival in the hell of war. But an unintended effect of this modernization is the introduction of an extremely serious environmental hazard into combat, posing a serious dilemma for our country and for the world. Because the uranium used in these munitions is depleted of the highly radioactive U-235 isotope, the hazard is not radioactivity. In fact, there are comparable amounts of radia- tion in our environment at all times, including in our food and water. Furthermore, our bodies have mechanisms for repairing damage done by low-level radi- ation. Rather, the hazard is due to the fact that uranium is a persistently toxic chemical element, just like lead and mercury. Natural uranium is made up of three isotopes: mostly U-238 (99.3 percent); U-235 (0.7 percent); and U-234 (0.005 percent). The U-235 isotope is important for power reactor or weapon use, and is extracted from nat- ural uranium, typically by gas centrifugation. The remain- ing uranium, depleted of its 235 isotope, is referred to as depleted uranium. DU is primarily a waste product, but it does have some uses, such as shielding for medical devices, because it absorbs radiation well. There are more than 500,000 tons of waste DU stored at our enrichment sites. DU was developed for use in high-density, high-energy projectiles. Its density is about 1.8 times that of lead, a hardness that penetrates armor that would cause lead to splatter. When it penetrates armor, its extremely high momentum (almost twice that of lead) is dissipated in a tremendous energy release that causes very high temper- atures and vaporizes the uranium. Thus, when DU pro- jectiles hit their target they go right through it, burst into flame and completely destroy the target. This effect dif- fers from that of lead-based projectiles, in which the momentum is insufficient to burn and vaporize the lead. When DU penetrators pierce metal or other hard objects, they burn (via extremely rapid oxidation) at a rate almost approaching that of a detonation. The result is a micron-particle-size uranium oxide aerosol that is easily inhaled and can possibly enter the fine alveoli of the lung. (Passing into the fine alveoli is a prelude to direct injec- tion into the blood stream.) If an aircraft strafes a target with hundreds of rounds of DU (which would require just a few seconds of holding the trigger), there could be hun- dreds of pounds of DU going up in smoke. The particles are so small they could remain suspended in the air for a long time, or travel in the wind for long distances, perhaps even between continents. This may be the scenario that prevailed in southern Iraq in 1991. There is no way of know- ing how much DU aerosol our troops, Saddam Hussein’s troops and Iraqi civilians were exposed to. The Persian Gulf War saw the first use of DU munitions in combat, but the same munitions were later used in Bosnia and Kosovo. Inhaled or ingested DU will have the same effects on the human body that heavy metals, such as lead and mer- cury, do, including kidney damage and neurological dam- age. But DU is potentially much worse than those chem- icals, because uranium binds well to DNA; in fact, it is used to prepare DNA for electron microscope viewing because DNA by itself does not show up well. We now know that uranium will cause mutations and breakage in DNA, which can lead to cancer. Mutations and breakage in sperm and egg cells can lead to an unviable fetus that can spontaneously abort, or may survive to be born with severe deformities. Laboratory studies show this happen- ing in animals. A New Security Threat DU weapons add a new dimension to armaments. They not only destroy the enemy, but they can come back and kill the victor, as well as noncombatants and future generations. Incredibly, DU munitions are now available commercially for non-military use: at least one U.S. company produces 50- mm DU-coated sniper rifles with a range of two miles and the ability to cut through armored vehicles, for $7,000 each. M A Y 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 71 The 1990 Montreal Protocol for the control of fluorocarbons would be an excellent model for an international agreement governing DU munitions.