The presence of depleted uranium in the soil of former Yugoslavia after the 1999 conflict raised great public concern all over the world. The so-called Balkan-syndrome is often linked with depleted uranium contamination. An excellent compilation of data about DU and its possible impact on health and environment can be found in the 1999 UNEP report and publications from the Swedish Radiation Pro...

T na m What Is Depleted Uranium? Depleted uranium is created as a byproduct during the processing of natural uranium to make it suitable for use as fuel in nuclear power plants or as a component in nuclear weapons. In natural uranium, 99.27% of the mass consists of atoms of uranium-238. About 0.72% of the mass consists of atoms of uranium-235, and a very small amount (0.0055% by mass) is uraniu...

highly radioactive byproducts. Commercially, uranium is used in an enriched form (higher percentage of the fissile isotope U) and a depleted form (low percentage of U). Enriched uranium is used in nuclear reactors, while depleted uranium is used for military applications in munitions and armor. Uranium has low gastrointestinal absorption; absorbed uranium takes the form of uranyl ion for circul...

Depleted uranium (DU) is an important by product in uranium enrichment process. Due toits applications in civilian and also military activity, DU emerged as environmental pollutant.The exposure to DU can occur via external or internal pathways. In external exposure, mainlybeta radiation from the decay products contributes to DU toxicity. Internal exposure to DUis more im...

It is recalled that the only non-nuclear military application in which depleted-uranium alloys out-perform present-day tungsten alloys is longrod penetration into a main battle-tank’s armor. However, this advantage is only on the order of 10% and disappearing when the uranium versus tungsten comparison is made in terms of actual lethality of complete anti-tank systems instead of laboratory-type...

BACKGROUND There has been concern regarding the possible environmental impacts of depleted uranium (DU) and its possible health effects on both military personnel and on civilians following the Gulf War 1991 (e.g. 1, 2, 3). These issues have been raised by several non-governmental organizations, some scientists and by a number of press reports. Since DU could also have been used in the Balkan c...

considerable evidence suggests that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the toxicity of uranyl acetate (ua), a soluble salt of depleted uranium (du). we examined the ability of the two antioxidants, beta-glucan and butylated hydroxyl toluene (bht), to prevent ua-induced mitochondrial dysfunction using rat-isolated kidney mitochondria. beta-glucan (150 nm) and bht (20 nm) attenuated ua-indu...

Depleted uranium (DU) is an important by product in uranium enrichment process. Due toits applications in civilian and also military activity, DU emerged as environmental pollutant.The exposure to DU can occur via external or internal pathways. In external exposure, mainlybeta radiation from the decay products contributes to DU toxicity. Internal exposure to DUis more im...

   Cytotoxicity of depleted uranium, as a byproduct of military has been came to spotlight in recent decades. DU is known as a chemical rather than radioactive hazard and efforts to illustrating its mechanism is undergo, but the precise complete molecular mechanisms are still unclear. Recent studies showed that uranium induces biological changes in many different target tissues, such as the kid...

Uranium is well known to induce chemical toxicity in kidneys, but several other target organs, such as central nervous system, could be also affected. Thus in the present study, the effects on sleep-wake cycle and behavior were studied after chronic oral exposure to enriched or depleted uranium. Rats exposed to 4% enriched uranium for 1.5 months through drinking water, accumulated twice as much...