August 2, 2024

Why on Earth is Depleted Uranium Used for Military Ammunition?

Depleted uranium just sounds terrifying. Sure, you can pick up some uranium ore and yellowcake from United Nuclear, but trying to buy depleted uranium is going to likely be a little dodgier.

With that being said, the US military has used depleted uranium (DU) as a source of armor penetrating ammunition over the years. I thought - wrongly from the video above - that the DU was simply used because of its high density and nature otherwise as nuclear waste. Today's video posits that there are quite a few other advantages of DU in high-caliber munitions applications.

There are also some seemingly obvious health risks involved in living in an area where spent DU shells are peppering the ground or having been in a tank where DU rounds entered and as least slightly vaporized. The video also goes through those health risks and says that they have largely been disproven, though I would be skeptical and appreciate that many military branches are "not considering depleted uranium anymore because of the environmental problems associated with it, be [they] real or perceived."

I think I'll stick to good ol' tungsten for my armor piercing needs.

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