Uranium military

Many challenging industrial and military applications utilize polychlorotriduoroethylene [9002-83-9] (PCTFE) where, ia addition to thermal and chemical resistance, other unique properties are requited ia a thermoplastic polymer. Such has been the destiny of the polymer siace PCTFE was initially synthesized and disclosed ia 1937 (1). The synthesis and characterization of this high molecular weight thermoplastic were researched and utilized duting the Manhattan Project (2). The unique comhination of chemical iaertness, radiation resistance, low vapor permeabiUty, electrical iasulation properties, and thermal stabiUty of this polymer filled an urgent need for a thermoplastic material for use ia the gaseous UF diffusion process for the separation of uranium isotopes (see Diffusion separation methods). 

Depleted Uranium. In the natural state U is a mixt of isotopes from which two, U23s and U238> are extracted for use in nuclear reactors and weapons. What remains after the extraction is known as depleted uranium which now exists in large quantities and for which few uses have so far been found. One property of U is its high d -it is heavier than Pb — and this has led to the investigation of its military applications... 

The political problems with profound economic impact could include, for example, the significance of the continuing worldwide growth of nuclear power, with such issues as the use of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) and Plutonium obtained from tire dismantling of U.S. and former USSR nuclear weapons the urgency of nonproliferation the disposal of civilian and military nuclear waste nuclear power alternatives. 

Unlike other primary energy sources, the global consumption of uranium exceeds its production. Worldwide consumption in 2005 amounted to 66 500 tU (NEA/ IAEA, 2006b).9 As Fig. 4.3 shows, newly mined and processed uranium (primary supply) exceeded reactor-related uranium requirements until 1991. Since 1991, the gap between primary supply and uranium demand has been filled by secondary supply, i.e., material that has been held in inventory (both civilian and military in origin) or has been reprocessed. Besides reprocessed uranium and plutonium of spent... 

The first actinide metals to be prepared were those of the three members of the actinide series present in nature in macro amounts, namely, thorium (Th), protactinium (Pa), and uranium (U). Until the discovery of neptunium (Np) and plutonium (Pu) and the subsequent manufacture of milligram amounts of these metals during the hectic World War II years (i.e., the early 1940s), no other actinide element was known. The demand for Pu metal for military purposes resulted in rapid development of preparative methods and considerable study of the chemical and physical properties of the other actinide metals in order to obtain basic knowledge of these unusual metallic elements. 

Little was done with this new material until the military, working on the atomic bomb, needed a special material for gaskets that would resist the corrosive gas uranium hexafluoride, which was one of the materials used to make the atomic bomb. General Leslie Groves, responsible for the U.S. Army s part in the atomic bomb project, had learned of DuPont s new inert polymer and had DuPont manufacture it for them. 

Defense high-level wastes are those produced as a result of military research during the recovery of the uranium and plutonium used in making fission and fusion bombs. 

Bunn, M. Holdren, J. P. 1997. Managing military uranium and plutonium in the United States and the former Soviet Union Current security challenges. In Socolow, R. H., Anderson, D. Harte, J. (eds) Annual Review of Energy and the Environment, 22, 403-486. 

UIC (Uranium Information Centre) 2002. Military Warheads as a Source of Nuclear Fuel. Nuclear Issues Briefing Paper 4. World Wide Web Address http //www.uic.com.au/nip04.htm. 

Depleted uranium (DU) is used to reinforce armor shielding and increase penetrability of military munitions. Although the data are conflicting, DU has been invoked as a potential etiological factor in Gulf War syndrome.70 To control possible contamination of soldiers from the Gulf War... 

Danesi et al.96 applied SIMS, in addition to X-ray fluorescence imaging, by using a microbeam (p-XRF) and scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence analyzer (SEM-EDXRF) to characterize soil samples and to identify small DU particles collected in Kosovo locations where depleted uranium (DU) ammunition was employed during the 1999 Balkan conflict. Knowledge of DU particles is needed as a basis for the assessment of the potential environmental and health impacts of military use of DU, since it provides information on possible resuspension and inhalation. The measurements indicated spots where hundreds of thousands of particles may be present in a few mg of contaminated soil. The particle size distribution showed that most of the DU particles were < 5 pm in diameter and more than 50 % of the particles had a diameter of < 1.5 p.m.96... 

Two US military specifications currently exist for U alloys Uranium Alloy for Body Section Center of Ammunition Components , MIL-U-46126 (28 June 1968), and Uranium Alloy, Wrought, Bars, Billets and Tubular Shapes , MIL-U-46045C (24 June 1974)... 

The nuclear fuels were created in the cosmic event that created the universe and were deposited in the earth as it took form. There are two families of nuclear fuels, those for fission (uranium and thorium) and those for fusion (protium [[//], deuterium, helium-3, and lithium). Only uranium fission has been developed as a commercial source of nuclear energy. Although fusion has been developed as a military weapon, the hydrogen bomb, it is premature to include the fusion fuels in the world s inventory of capital energy. The technology for controlled fusion is not available, nor is development of a controlled fusion process expected in the next several decades. When available it would increase the capital supply to a level greater than that from all other sources combined.16... 

Plutonium-239 and tritium for use as military explosives are the two major transmutation products. The nuclear process for Pu-239 production is the same as for energy generation, but there are some differences (a) metallic natural uranium clad with aluminum facilitates later dissolution for plutonium recovery, and the reactor operates at a relatively low temperature because of the aluminum clad and better heat transfer (due to the metallic natural uranium) (b) the irradiation cycle is limited to a few months to minimize the Pu-239 conversion to Pu-240 and Pu-241 and (c) a carbon or a heavy water moderator is used to increase the neutron efficiency. 

Some of the other uses for nitric acid are other metal nitrates, in the steel industry, in the electronics industry, to make nitrochloroben-zene, cellulose nitrate, in several nitrate paraffins (e.g., nitromethane, nitroethane, and nitropropane), in non-military explosives, to digest crude uranium concentrates, in mixed fertilizers, and in concentrated nitric acid. 

Another military use of the actinide metals is in tank armor and armor piercing projectiles. Depleted uranium metal is an extremely dense material, for example, density of a-phase U is 19 g cm, and is only mildly radioactive, half-life of is 4.5 X 10 years. When this metal is incorporated into a projectile, the density and metallic properties allow it to penetrate deeply into heavily armored vehicles. 

There has been significant public concern regarding the use of DU by the military, and it has been hypothesized that DU may be a cause of Gulf War Syndrome. The public concern also stems from the lack of awareness regarding the specific physical chemistry and hazards of DU, and the belief that DU is still a form of uranium and therefore radiologically hazardous. These concerns have given rise to the belief that DU may be used as a weapon of mass destruction in the form of a dirty bomb, or as an agent of bioterrorism. 

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