In this space, visitors are invited to post any comments, questions, or skeptical observations about Philo T. Farnsworth's contributions to the field of Nuclear Fusion research.Subject: Re: Recycling and using the
Date: Oct 18, 8:49 am
Poster: Richard HullOn Oct 18, 8:49 am, Richard Hull wrote:
>What about the depleted uranium that is left aside from the initial enrichment process? Is that front end as closely regulated? Afterall there is far more U238 than U235. Maybe there are some mounds of abandoned U238 and other waste ore from the days when every government was interested in nuclear power, followed by those companies going bankrupt when the interest waned, and those quiet mounds are just waiting for someone to tap into their potential power.
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let me assure you there are no piles of DU rotting away. The government controls to a limited degeree the reminent DU. Most goes into military kentetic penetrator rounds by the hundreds of thousands. I have handeled a 21 pound pure elemental U-238 penetrator flechette for a 105mm gun round. There are hundreds of thousands thousands if not millions of 20mm, 30mm and 37mm linked belt DU rounds used in vulcan cannons and variants along with the Bradley fighting vehicle.
There was a big BOO-HOO sob story done on 60 minutes and other alarmist news magazines concerning the hundreds of tons of DU shrapnel we left scattered in and around KO'd Iraqi armour in Kuwait and Iraq following the Gulf War. What we fired and left there is a mere pitance compared to current unfired inventory which is just itchin' to be sent downrange, stored in hundreds of government munitions dumps.
Also, in tens of thousands of commercial jet liners and miltiary aircraft, formed DU members are used as spot balancers in wings engines and superstructurs.
The government "macro manages" th' stuff. Lockheed can order and get twelve tons for manufacture, but no one is allowed to hold any privately. They will make a big deal over the possesion of a piece of DU shrapnel or a DU penetrator by a war vet, while letting GI's daily train and work sitting inches from 800 lb linked belts in closed fighting vehicles.
Remember, a good ole classic A bomb needs a few tons of DU in the casing to burn, so the government is real concerned about not letting leaks of the material in the hundreds of pounds wander out of the country.
Richard Hull