Lauren WeinsteinI believe that there is approaching a 50% chance that Trump will either deploy or attempt to deploy a nuclear weapon (probably tactical weapon, perhaps a strategic weapon) in the ongoing conflict. Hegseth has fired most of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who might have fought against such a move. Trump is erratic, deranged, likely deeply senile and mentally ill, and surrounded by self-serving sycophants. This is probably the most dangerous time for the U.S., and the world, since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Kim@lauren During the 1991/2003 gulf wars, the US used depleted uranium munitions, which have a lasting radioactive impact, in order to stop a state from possessing (nuclear and chemical) WMDs, which we later discovered didn't actually exist. Sites in southern Iraq and Kuwait that were battlegrounds in 1991 still remain contaminated and will remain so essentially forever. So the US has form.
Robert HDepleted #uranium is nasty stuff, but not that nasty. It's what left over after you separate the radioactive stuff.
Extra_Special_Carbon@Stinson_108 @kim_balfour @lauren Depleted Uranium is still radioactive, its just not fissile. U238 is a radioactive isotope.
@Stinson_108 @kim_balfour @lauren Every isotope of every element with an atomic number over 82 is radioactive.
@Extra_Special_Carbon @kim_balfour @lauren
Dosis sola facit venenum.
As are bananas. Alpha particles, the majority product of uranium-238, is stopped by paper or skin. Don't breathe the dust. Beta particles and gamma radiation from depleted uranium are half of mined metal.
@Stinson_108 @kim_balfour @lauren Sure, it’s mostly safe until it starts contaminating ground water, food, and the air. How many shells are there, and are they contained well? I’ll bet they ard lying all over the place in bins or just on the ground, where it rains.
Is it a lot? I don’t know. If these shells aren’t contained, what is their fate in the environment? The uranium will certainlynoxidize and dissolve. How much uranium is too much?