Characterization of Depleted Uranium and its Danger for Inhalation

The following technical note make the assumption that the reader has the suitable scientific background contained in Ref. [1]. This note makes the specific analysis regarding the specific problem of the characterization of Depleted Uranium (DU) considering the presence of Plutonium. This note will consider these basic assumptions: - The DU is a mixture of radio nuclides (U238, U235,, U234) with some well known concentrations. - There have been during the last months and particularly in the last month of January, contradicting news about the dangers arising from DU for the presence in it of Plutonium. - If DU comes out from the cycle of enrichment of uranium, it is not possible to find in it U236 nor Pu239, unless only “fresh” uranium is used, that is uranium which is freshly extracted from the mines or coming from processing of natural uranium. If, on the contrary, DU arises from an enrichment progress which employs as rough material also uranium coming from the reprocessing cycle of spent nuclear fuel, then all these and other nuclides can be present in DU. - We will call the first one as “Clean DU”, and the second as “Dirty DU”, without, by this, considering the clean DU as a safe material. - The fact that DU used in the Balkan area is, at least partly, “dirty” has been confirmed by UNEP (United Nations Environmental Program) which has verified2 the presence of U236 in DU.