Depleted uranium treatment

According to the vendor, full-scale processes have been employed to remediate depleted uranium and uranium process residues. Systems have also been designed for treatment of natural uranium-contaminated materials. Processes for the treatment of materials contaminated with multiple heavy metals have been designed and demonstrated. RIMS was unable to determine the commercial availability of this technology. 

The core of the bullet can be made from a variety of materials lead is by far the most common because of its high density and the fact that it is cheap, readily obtained, and easy to fabricate. But copper, brass, bronze, aluminum, steel (sometimes hardened by heat treatment), depleted uranium, zinc, iron, tungsten, rubber, and various plastics may also be encountered. (When most of the fissile radioactive isotopes of uranium are removed from natural uranium, the residue is called depleted uranium. Depleted uranium is 67% denser than lead, and it is an ideal bullet material and is very effective in an armor-piercing role, both in small arms and larger munitions components. Because of its residual radioactivity its use is controversial.) Bullets with a lead core and a copper alloy jacket are by far the most common. 

This chapter describes depleted uranium and its applications in weapons of mass destruction. The DU exposure pathways, pharmacokinetics, health effects, toxicity, and available treatments are also reported. 

Fitsanakis, V.A., Erikson, K.M., Garcia, S.J., Evje, L., S rversen, T., Aschner, M. (2006). Brain accumulation of depleted uranium in rats following 3- or 6-month treatment with implanted depleted uranium pellets. Biol. Trace Elem. Res. Ill 185-97. 

Plasma arc treatment. The spent fuel is placed directly into a plasma centrifugal furnace with depleted uranium and neutron absorbers, where it is melted and converted into a HLW glass waste form. 

Because the drug and the mobilized metals are excreted via the urine, the drug is contraindicated in anuric patients. Nephrotoxicity from EDTA has been reported, but in most cases this can be prevented by maintenance of adequate urine flow, avoidance of excessive doses, and limitation of a treatment course to 5 or fewer consecutive days. EDTA may result in temporary zinc depletion that is of uncertain clinical significance. An experimental analog of EDTA, calcium disodium diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), has been used for removal ("decorporation") of uranium, plutonium, and other heavy radioisotopes from the body. 

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