Introduction
[Author's note: What follows is the first part of the chapter from which the book derives its name. It serves as a good introductory sample of the content of the book as a whole. Misrepresentations of radiation effects in general and of the radiological and chemical effects of depleted uranium in particular are brought to light by elucidating the relevant science.can make you commit atrocities.
-Voltaire
To sustain the lie that uranium weapons pose no hazard to health, an artful repertoire of falsehood and deceit has been crafted. Half-truths, distortions, fabrications, fallacious reasoning: these are the stock-in-trade of the government and military spokesmen "educating" the public on issues of uranium munitions and radiation safety. At every opportunity, these conjurers chant the same litany of misinformation into the ears of the public, casting a spell on their intellects and charming them into believing as true what is blatantly false.
The phenomenon of propaganda can be understood. It is an instrument of coercion that government employs to persuade the governed to accept its deeds. The ignorance of the average person on issues of radiation physics can also be understood. Our educational system fails to equip students with the knowledge they need to be conversant with current issues of national policy. High school graduates, as a rule, have little or no knowledge of basic nuclear physics, and those going on to college gain no exposure to this topic unless they major in one of the sciences. But what cannot be understood, what goes beyond all comprehension, is why trained professionals who are sufficiently educated to see through [Author's note: What follows is the first part of the chapter from which the book derives its name. It serves as a good introductory sample of the content of the book as a whole. Misrepresentations of radiation effects in general and of the radiological and chemical effects of depleted uranium in particular are brought to light by elucidating the relevant science.] A Primer in the Art of Deception the misstatements of government keep their lips sealed and allow lies and ignorance to prevail. Their situation is no different from that of the doctors in Nazi Germany who knew of the human experiments, the euthanasia, the death camps - and did nothing. Those who have knowledge but remain silent are accomplices to those shepherding radiological warfare into the world and are just as equally responsible as the government for the chronic illnesses and birth defects that are being caused.
The contention that uranium weapons do not pose a radiological hazard is a house of cards propped up by a number of false notions issued by government, the military and their sympathizers that bamboozle those who question the wisdom of scattering radioactivity over the face of the earth. What follows is a primer on these foundational lies.
Depleted uranium is less hazardous than natural uranium because it is "depleted." It is 40% less radioactive than natural uranium.
This statement, so apparently straightforward, is a minefield. The problem lies with the words "natural uranium." Until definitions are unambiguous and everyone shares the same understanding as to what "natural uranium" denotes, clarity as to the true hazard of depleted uranium can never be achieved.
It often comes as a surprise to people to discover that the expression natural uranium is in reality a specialized, technical term. Used precisely, it refers to uranium that has been mined, crushed, concentrated, and then chemically stripped of all other minerals. This purified material is 100% uranium and is composed of three isotopes: uranium-238, uranium- 235 and uranium-234. In contrast to this specialized product, there is the uranium found in nature. This expression is coined here for purposes of clarity and will be used to refer to the uranium that is ubiquitously found amidst rocks and soil on the Earth's surface. This uranium consists of the same three uranium isotopes in the same proportions as that found in natural uranium. However, the uranium found in nature is never found in as concentrated a form as so-called natural uranium. The term depleted uranium, as originally coined, is meant to designate what remains of natural uranium after a portion of its uranium-235 content has been extracted for the production of nuclear weapons and the fuel for nuclear reactors.
Since the advent of uranium munitions, a web of words has been spun to misinform the public. The difference between natural uranium and uranium found in nature has been obfuscated so that people are misled into believing that depleted uranium is less hazardous than the uranium found in nature. This is a totally false notion. Depleted uranium incorporated into the interior of the body poses a far greater threat to health than does the incorporation into the body of the uranium found in nature.
As residents on planet earth, all human beings have the uranium found in nature continually cycling through their bodies. In rocks and soils, uranium found in nature exists in concentrations of between 0.5 and 5 parts per million with the average in most soils being 1.8 ppm. This works out to approximately 2-3 grams of uranium within each metric ton. In minute concentrations, uranium is present in the food we eat, the water we drink, the air which we breathe. There is no known physiological need for this uranium in the body. It is biologically inessential. At any one time, the average human body contains 90 millionths of a gram of uranium. Daily, through our food and water, we ingest 2 millionths of a gram of uranium. Yearly intake is approximately 0.000436 grams. Passing through the digestive system, 98% is eliminated in the feces. Of the 2% absorbed, 60-70% passes through the bloodstream and is eliminated in urine within 24 hours. Another 10% is deposited in the kidney and excreted relatively rapidly. Its biological half-life is 15 days.1 Most of the remaining 20% or so is deposited in bone with the remnant distributed to other organs and tissues. Simultaneously, uranium previously deposited in the recesses of our bodies is gradually released from its tissues of retention, enters the circulation, and is eliminated. Human exposure to the uranium found in nature occurs primarily through the gradual uptake over time of extremely diluted concentrations of soluble uranium compounds. This material gradually enters the body, has widespread distribution throughout many organ systems, and is then eliminated. No localized cluster of cells receives a greater dose of radiation than any other cluster. Radioactive decay of the atoms of this uranium presents an infinitely small hazard to the health of the organism as a whole.
Natural uranium - uranium that has been concentrated by human beings - represents an enhanced radiological hazard over uranium found in nature. Since the 1940s, humankind has unearthed millions of tons of uranium-bearing ore, extracted the uranium and concentrated it. This man-made product is a new radiological pollutant that never before existed on the Earth's surface. Thus, so-called natural uranium has only existed in the biosphere since the Manhattan Project. (This obfuscation of the English language is a grand ploy by which the Cult of Nuclearists bewilders and misleads humankind.)
To grasp the radiological difference between depleted uranium and the uranium found in nature, a simple example will suffice. Let's imagine that two spherical particles, each 2.5 microns (0.0001 inch) in diameter, are absorbed into the bloodstream. One is a speck of dust of depleted uranium metal composed of 100% uranium. Mathematically, it has been estimated that such a particle contains approximately 210,000,000,000 molecules of UO2 (Dietz). The second particle is a speck of soil entering into the body with some ingested food. Its uranium content is that of the uranium found in nature. For simplicity's sake, let's assume this speck contains the same number of molecules. If its uranium concentration exists as 1 ppm, it will contain only 210,000 molecules of uranium. Thus, for equivalent quantities of uranium to enter the body, one would have to ingest one million soil particles to uptake the same amount of uranium as that contained in the single particle of DU. Consequently, it should be apparent that micron-sized particles of depleted uranium create a significantly greater localized chemical and radiological hazard to the cells in the immediate vicinity of where they become lodged compared with internalized particles containing the uranium found in nature.
The hazard of depleted uranium can be framed another way. Within each kilogram of soil, 10 to 20 atoms of uranium (all uranium isotopes considered) decay each second. In a kilogram of pure depleted uranium, 12,400,000 atoms of uranium-238 disintegrate each second (Busby 2003). After the war in Kosovo where depleted uranium munitions were fired, soil samples analyzed by the United Nations Environment Program revealed uranium activity of 250,000 disintegrations per second per kilogram of soil (UNEP).
Typically, uranium-bearing ore contains between 0.1% and 0.2% uranium, although under rare circumstances it can reach as high as 10% or more. Commonly, a ton of ore yields between two and four pounds of uranium. This uranium exists in many different chemical forms. The most common form is U3O8, triuranium octaoxide, which is a crystalline blend of UO2 and UO3 in a ratio of 1:2. Incorporated in the ore are the 14 radioactive isotopes formed through the decay series of uranium-238, one of which is uranium- 234, and the 11 radioactive isotopes from the decay series of uranium-235. All of these are in secular equilibrium with their parent uranium isotope, meaning that they all undergo radioactive decay at the same rate. Once mined, the ore is put through a milling process. At this point the ore undergoes crushing and grinding followed by acid or alkaline leaching. Next comes either solvent extraction or passage through ion exchangers followed by precipitation. By the end of this stage, 85% of the decay products of the parent uranium isotopes have been removed. The uranium, now concentrated from 40-85% purity, is in the chemical form U3O8 and goes by the name of "yellowcake."; As Dr. Rosalie Bertell has observed: "Compared with the uranium found in nature in soil and rock, yellowcake is about 300,000 times more concentrated" (Bertell 2000). (This is in substantial agreement with the example provided above when comparing a particle of depleted uranium with one of uranium found in nature.) From the mill, yellowcake is moved along the uranium fuel cycle to other facilities for further refining. Purification at this stage involves either digest tion with nitric acid followed by extraction of the uranyl nitrate or conversion to UF6 followed by fractional distillation At the completion of this step, all progeny radioisotopes from uranium-238 and uranium-235, with the exception of uranium-234, have been removed and the uranium is chemically pure. This purified uranium product is what is known as "natural"uranium. Natural uranium is pure uranium consisting exclusively of the three uranium isotopes found in nature. These are all chemically identical and differ only by the number of neutrons in their nuclei. (To minimize confusion, some researchers have begun calling this product "undepleted" or "nondepleted" uranium.) The relative concentrations of the three isotopes as they are found in nature and in a mass of natural uranium is as follows: uranium-238 (99.274%), uranium-235 (0.720%), uranium-234 (0.0055%). As seen in the chart, uranium-234, the least abundant isotope, contributes nearly half of the radioactivity of natural uranium due to its relatively shorter half-life. Uranium-238 with its much longer half-life contributes an equal amount of radioactivity due to its greater abundance. The remaining 2% of the radioactivity comes from the decay of uranium-235.
In order to sustain a chain reaction by the splitting of the nuclei of uranium atoms, the relative presence of uranium-235 must be increased within a mass of uranium-238. Reactor-grade uranium requires a relative abundance of 3.2 - 3.6% uranium-235. Weapon-grade uranium requires a relative abundance of uranium-235 of 90% or more. To achieve these concentrations, natural uranium is sent through an enrichment process whereby atoms of uranium-235 are separated from natural uranium and concentrated to form "enriched" uranium to the required concentration. The natural uranium from which uranium-235 has been removed is now "depleted," from 0.720% of uranium-235 to approximately 0.202% uranium-235. The relative concentrations of the three uranium isotopes in depleted uranium are: uranium-238 (99.797%), uranium-235 (0.202%) and uranium- 234 (0.0008%).
In the process of separating uranium-235, most of the uranium-234 is also removed.
As a consequence, depleted uranium is less radioactive than natural uranium. To compare
this difference in radioactivity between natural uranium and depleted uranium, physicists
compare their specific activity, i.e., number of disintegrations per second per gram of each
material. The specific activity of natural uranium (considering only the alpha emissions
from the uranium and ignoring the radioactivity of the decay products) is 0.67 microcuries
per gram. This means that in every gram of concentrated natural uranium, 24,790 uranium
atoms are undergoing radioactive decay each second. The specific activity of depleted
uranium (again ignoring the radioactivity of the daughter products) is 0.4 microcuries per
gram. This is equivalent to 14,800 disintegrations each second. Comparing the two,
depleted uranium is 40% less radioactive than "natural" uranium.
The rhetorical sleight of hand contained in the term "depleted" uranium can now
be understood. Those defending the use of depleted uranium armaments never tire of mentioning the fact that DU is 40% less radioactive than natural uranium. This statement
is gobbledygook. It is a playing with words in order to sow confusion. The idea being planted
in the mind of the public is that, because it is "depleted", it is less radioactive than the
uranium to which we all are constantly being exposed. BUT THIS IS NOT THE
CASE. It must be recalled that the term "natural uranium" is a technical term referring to
uranium that has been purified, chemically separated and concentrated from yellowcake.
When compared to this form of uranium, depleted uranium is in fact 40% less radioactive.
But what relevance does this have? The vast majority of people on earth are never exposed
to uranium ore, yellowcake or "natural uranium." Only a small number of employees in
the nuclear industries are exposed to "natural uranium." The uranium to which the average
person is exposed on a daily basis, the ubiquitous uranium in the environment from
rocks and soil, is hundreds of thousands of times less concentrated than so-called "natural
uranium." In an honest comparison, the radioactivity of depleted uranium must be compared
to the radioactivity of the uranium found in nature that enters the human body
through dietary intake. When this is done, as in the example provided earlier comparing
two 2.5 micron particles, it turns out that depleted uranium is substantially more radioactive.
To once again quote Dr. Rosalie Bertell, "Depleted uranium is some thousand times more
radioactive than natural uranium in its natural state [i.e. the uranium found in nature] in
soil and rock" (Betell 2000).
The truth of the matter is that uranium munitions vastly increase the amount of
uranium in the environment in which they are fired. They liberate concentrated particles
of uranium which are not normally found in nature. The radiological hazard created by
the inhalation and ingestion of this material is substantially greater than that received from
the normal dietary intake of uranium. "Depleted" uranium is not depleted when compared
to uranium as it is found in nature. It is a concentrated form of uranium that is more
radioactive. Human beings who take depleted uranium into their bodies are receiving
unnaturally elevated doses of radiation to the cell clusters in the immediate vicinity around
which a particle of DU is lodged.
Depleted uranium does not pose a radiological hazard because it emits alpha
particles which are so weak that they cannot even penetrate the skin.
The statement that alpha particles are incapable of penetrating the skin is true. Its
incessant repetition in government propaganda is to plant the idea in the public mind that
the radiation emitted by uranium is too weak to penetrate the body and adversely affect
human health. The deceit hidden in this statement is contained in what it leaves unsaid.
The discussion that follows is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Harrison Martland, a pioneer in the study of internal contamination by radionuclides who carried out extensive
research on the failing health of the radium dial painters over 70 years ago. In an article published in 1929, he remarked: "Alpha particles are probably the most potent and destructive agents
known to science" (Martland).
When an atom of uranium-238 undergoes radioactive decay, it emits an alpha particle
from its nucleus. An alpha particle is identical to the nucleus of a helium atom. It consists
of two protons and two neutrons bound together. The two protons give this particle
two units of positive electrical charge. In contrast, electrons orbiting the nuclei of atoms
possess one unit of negative electrical charge. As most people remember from playing with
magnets as children, unlike charges attract each other. When an emitted alpha particle
courses past atoms in the medium in which it is released, electromagnetic interactions
between the particle and orbital electrons are such that the force acting on the electrons is
sufficient to propel their escape from the atoms to which they are bound. For purposes of
this discussion, an alpha particle can be visualized as a powerful, irresistible magnet, effortlessly
dislocating orbital electrons and liberating them.
Imagine an atom of hydrogen. A single electron orbits a nucleus consisting of a single
proton. The atom is electrically neutral. The positive charge of the single proton is balanced
by the negative charge of the electron. When an alpha particle comes in proximity
with this atom, it draws the electron from its orbit around the proton, releasing it into the
surrounding medium. Simultaneously, the positively charged proton is liberated from its
electron. What has taken place is ionization. An electrically neutral atom has been broken
into a pair of oppositely charged particles. Ionization of more complex molecules can also
occur. In a molecule consisting of two or more atoms bonded together, the ejection of an
orbital electron can sever the bond between atoms creating pairs of oppositely charged particles.
The charged particles created by ionization, once liberated into the surrounding
medium, go on to ionize other molecules. Ion pairs have an extremely short lifespan, on
the order of 10-18 to 10-16 seconds. They then undergo one of many reactions that lead
to the formation of free radicals. When ions and free radicals are produced in a biological
medium, they are extremely reactive agents, and they promote chemical chaos in neighboring
molecules. On average, the transfer of 34 electron-volts of energy is required to break
the chemical bond holding together one of the molecules in our body. A single alpha particle
ejected from one uranium atom carries an energy of approximately 4.18 million electron-
volts. Thus, one alpha particle has the potential of creating ~123,000 ionizations. In
a cascading effect, the charged particles created in these ionizing events go on to initiate
millions more ionizations. An alpha particle is a bull in the proverbial china shop. It massively disrupts the chemical integrity of the molecules that constitute a living system. What
distinguishes a biological system from lifeless matter is its ordered structure. This ordered
structure is the medium in which the exquisite choreography of living processes takes place.
Ionizing radiation overwhelms ordered structure and renders it into fragmented chaos
unable to carry out further biological activity. This in turn may manifest as metabolic
changes in a cell and may ultimately manifest at the macroscopic level as illness.
To understand fully the destructiveness of an alpha particle, one must visualize what
goes on as the alpha particle traverses a biological medium. Ejected from the nucleus of a
uranium atom undergoing radioactive decay, a high-energy alpha particle is set in motion.
It follows a straight path called a track. Being so effective in causing ionization, ionizing
events occur in very close proximity to each other. Alpha particles are said to have high
LET or linear energy transfer. They transfer more electron volts per micrometer than any
other type of radiation thus creating a dense pattern of ionization along their tracks. In
each interaction with an orbital electron, the alpha particle transfers some of its energy and
is progressively slowed down. As it slows, the density of ionization actually increases. The
alpha particle creates so much breakage and liberates so many electrons in such a minute
span that its energy is rapidly dissipated and in no time comes to a complete stop. Binding
with liberated electrons, the alpha particle is transformed into an atom of helium. In a biological
medium, an alpha particle has a range of between 17 and 30 microns. In other
words, an alpha particle will not traverse more than about 3-5 cell diameters. It is within
this short range that all the biological damage it has initiated takes place. A massive assault
on the chemical integrity of a small population of cells is the end result.
This is the key to the lie about alpha particles. Alpha particles are not weak. They
do not penetrate the skin to any depth because they are rapidly slowed by all the molecular
destruction they are causing. It is their extreme destructiveness that slows them down
so rapidly. It is like an invading army which does not invade too far into enemy territory
because it expends all its force obliterating the first settlement it comes to.
Now, the coup de grace. Government propaganda always frames discussion of alpha
particles in terms of their inability to penetrate the skin. But they conveniently omit to
mention what happens when alpha particles are emitted within the interior of the body.
People exposed to uranium munitions inhale uranium into their bodies. Microscopic particles
become lodged in the lungs. Some are scavenged into the lymph nodes. Others
escape into the systemic circulation. A major site of deposit is in bone, but autopsies of soldiers
contaminated by depleted uranium reveal uranium deposited in many different organ
systems. These particles lodged within tissue become a point source of ongoing radiation
to surrounding cells as individual atoms of uranium decay. Alpha particles are emitted in a spherical volume around an embedded uranium particle, the radius of this sphere being
the distance alpha particles are capable of traversing. The number of cells at risk are limited
by the range of the alpha particles. Within this sphere, molecular havoc is rampant,
cellular biological damage is created, and the process is ongoing as the individual atoms
making up a uranium particle continue to decay over time. Particularly vulnerable are all
DNA molecules within the spherical volume around an embedded particle of uranium.
Alpha interactions with DNA can cause various kinds of damage such as single-strand
breaks, double-strand breaks, base losses, base changes, DNA-DNA crosslinks, and DNAprotein
crosslinks. These dramatic alterations in genetic integrity can permanently alter
cellular function by causing faulty reproduction of biologically essential molecules. They
can also cause genetic damage that is passed on to daughter cells during cell replication.
Such mutations can have catastrophic results to the entire organism. The genetic study of
cancer cells has determined that all cancers are monoclonal, i.e., a cancer mass consists of
the uncontrolled reproduction of a single cell. Even one atom of uranium undergoing
alpha decay has the potential for creating a fatal cancer. The type of cancer will depend
upon which type of cell is altered.
The nuclear establishment has a long history of intentionally blurring the distinction
between external exposure to radioactivity and internal contamination. This gambit has
been so successful that after half a century the public has yet to awaken to the danger of
low-level radiation released into the environment. The Cult of Nuclearists can survive only
in this atmosphere of somnolence. When the public finally awakens to the extreme hazard
of internal contamination, it will be outraged.
During the 1950s, when America was testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere,
concern among the population began to grow about the health effects of fallout. To counter
this fear, the Atomic Energy Commission intentionally framed news releases about fallout
in terms of the hazard posed to the exterior of the human body through irradiation by
x-rays and gamma rays. It kept the public in ignorance of the internal hazard posed by the
ingestion of contaminated food and water and the inhalation of dust contaminated by
radionuclides. This campaign of misinformation was unconscionable. Over the long term,
it is internal contamination by radionuclides released into the environment that presents the
greater hazard to the health of populations. The intention to confuse the public about the
different types of radiation hazard is pervasive even today. Any time there is a release of
radiation into the environment, spokesmen for government and industry always frame the
discussion for the public in terms of external irradiation. The subject of internal radiation
is quietly swept under the table.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The debris from uranium munitions settles rapidly to the ground in the
immediate environs of a destroyed target...
Bibliography
Bertell R. The Host Response to Depleted Uranium. November 2000. http://www.iicph.org/docs/host_response_to_du.htmBusby C. Depleted Science: Health Consequences and Mechanisms of Exposure to Fallout from Depleted Uranium Weapons. Contribution to International DU Conference, Hamburg, October 16-19, 2003. Aberystwyth: Green Audit; 2003.
Dietz L.A. Estimate of Radiation Dose From a Depleted Uranium Oxide Particle. January 1991. http://www.xs4all.nl/~stgvisie/VISIE/Dietz-L/Dietz-du-3.html.
Martland H.S. Occupational Poisoning in Manufacture of Luminous Watch Dials: General Review of the Hazard Caused by Ingestion of Luminous Paint, with Especial Reference to the New Jersey Cases. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1929; 92:466-473, 552-559.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Depleted Uranium in Kosovo. Post Conflict Environmental Assessment. Geneva. 2001.
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