Ecological Considerations of Depleted Uranium Munitions

Ecological consequences of depleted uranium (DU) released to the environment as a result of military use of DU munitions were appraised by reviewing pertinent literature. Estimates were based upon ecosystem responses to natural uranium, which is more soluble and more toxic than DU. It was concluded that the major ecological hazard from expended uranium munitions will be chemical toxicity rather than radiation. The alloy nature of the munitions will substantially decrease the mobility of DU and mitigate the problem. However, the ecological aspects of the chemical toxicity of DU in terrestrial ecosystems is expected to be a major consideration of expended munitions.