Uses of Uranium

Armour piercing weapons

Enrichment is a very energy intensive process and is responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions.

Enrichment leads to two products uranium enriched in U-235 and uranium depleted in U-235. The latter is referred to as depleted uranium or DU.

There is not a great demand for depleted uranium and hence it is readily available at low cost. Because uranium is 50%  more dense than lead it has been used for yacht keels, and as ballast in commercial jet aircraft. The latter is a hazardous use of uranium because if a jet crashes and catches fire the uranium is converted to finely divided radioactive dust that is readily ingested and inhaled.

More recently depleted uranium has come into prominence through its use in armour piercing shells and missiles. Uranium nose cones were used for this purpose in the Gulf War, in the Balkans conflict and most recently in Afghanistan. The high combustibility of uranium means that it can burn its way through armour. At the same time the uranium is converted to highly divided radioactive oxides.

Because uranium is both a chemical and a radiological hazard its use in weapons is extremely toxic for both civilians and combatants. Depleted uranium has been implicated in a condition known as Gulf War syndrome.

The hazard from depleted uranium weapons continues for generations after its use in weapons.

Greater technical detail can be found on this topic by searching through the listed briefing papers and education resources at http://www.ccsa.asn.au/nic/.

In this section - Uses of Uranium

• Is Uranium Needed?
• Nuclear Weapons
• Nuclear Power
• Nuclear Medicine
• Industry
• Smoke Detectors
• Food Irradiation 
• Armour Piercing Weapons