The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog – has said that depleted uranium is “considerably less radioactive than natural uranium,” but urged caution when handling. The US announced the new aid package during Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Kyiv, on September 6. “It’s so dense and it’s got so much momentum that it just keeps going through the armor – and it heats it up so much that it catches on fire,” Edward Geist, a nuclear expert at RAND, told the Associated Press. Instead, what makes depleted uranium so effective is its ability to tear through the armor of enemy tanks, as it becomes sharper on impact with a target. “That is not the case under most battlefield exposure scenarios.” “A common misconception is that radiation is depleted uranium’s primary hazard,” according to a report from the RAND Corporation. It is almost twice as dense as lead, the metal used in standard ammunition. But depleted uranium is extremely dense, making it a highly effective projectile. It is far less radioactive than enriched uranium and unable to produce a nuclear reaction. Here’s what you need to know about depleted uranium munitions – and why their use has sparked questions.ĭepleted uranium is what is left over when most of the highly radioactive isotopes of uranium have been stripped out of the metal for use in nuclear fuel or nuclear weapons. The 120mm rounds can be fired from the US-made Abrams M1 tanks and are set to arrive on Ukraine’s frontlines this fall, which both Washington and Kyiv hope will help Ukrainian forces to build on recent hard-earned gains in their ongoing counteroffensive.īut the munitions are mildly radioactive, raising queries about their safety and the risk they could pose to civilians, and drawing fierce criticism from Moscow. The United States has decided to send controversial depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine for the first time, as part of a new aid package worth more than $1 billion announced Wednesday.
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