Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Just DU It: Depleted Uranium and the Real Costs of Conquest

By Mickey Z.

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Posted 06/09 | Add a Comment

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  1. Thanks for this Mick. And let’s not forget at the recent conference on DU in Germany where one physicist posited that the last four US wars dispersed 400,000 Nagasaki “gembaku’s” worth of nuke material into the biosphere, where it will remain and kill forever. That does not include other deadly toxins tied up with the weaponry when exploded. (my original source for this is an interview with a U of Cal scientist named Lauren Moret [sp], who was interviewed on Canuck radio, of course!).

    Also, there was a recent report written by Amy Worthington which is posted at Global Research.ca which is a mindblower: US experiments to disrupt the skies and spew all sorts of toxins that fall back to Earth (remember REM’s: “don’t fall on me”?).

    Do not go gentle into that good night…

    Posted by Rhino Rick from Tokyo, Japan  on  06/10  at  04:32 AM

  2. I fail to understand how the pictures shown are related to Bush? Any ideas?

    Posted by Vish from  on  06/11  at  02:08 PM

  3. More propaganda based on myth rather than fact

    Posted by FD from  on  06/11  at  03:59 PM

  4. It’s not about Bush or any individual...it’s about war. It’s about a culture of violence. It’s about corporate greed disguised as humanitarianism. Those photos illustrate the fallout from the first Gulf War. DU was used again in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush or Kerry, it doesn’t matter...future generations there will pay the price for America’s war to keep the world safe for petroleum. Through our silence or support and through our tax dollars, we are all complicit.

    Posted by Mickey Z. from  on  06/11  at  04:17 PM

  5. Facts and myths - How do we color inside the line when the line is drawn by self-styled pundits? 

    Below are facts reported about judicial outcomes of a DU fire at Oak Ridge.  An $82,000 fine suggests that a DU fire is taken very seriously indeed in Tennessee.

    But who will be called to account for radioactive remnants of war in Baghdad? I’m not holding my breath to find out. 

    Prove me wrong:  “Enduring freedom” victims of radioactive remnants of war will be appearing for the next 50 years at least, for no good reason whatever.  Simply because they or their family were exposed to DU as children or adults, as unborn babies or as combatants on one “side” or the other. 

    I note that
    “BWXT Y-12 has put in place appropriate controls to prevent future incidences such as this [DU fire in Tennessee].”

    I hope the European Parliament, the US Congress, the UN and the ICC are also able to effect appropriate controls on radioactive weapons that leave radioactive remnants of war.


    http://www.oakridger.com/stories/
    061104/new_20040611076.shtml

    Story last updated at 10:56 a.m. on June 11, 2004

    BWXT Y-12 fined for explosion, fire
    By: Paul Parson | Oak Ridger Staff

    The company that manages Oak Ridge’s nuclear weapons plant has been fined $82,500 for a small explosion and subsequent fire that happened over a year ago.

    Linton Brooks, administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration, notified Dennis Ruddy, president and general manager of BWXT
    Y-12, of the fine this week.

    BWXT Y-12 manages the Y-12 National Security Complex for the NNSA - the quasi-independent agency within the Department of Energy that oversees the nuclear weapons complex.

    The fine pertains to a February 2003 incident where workers were conducting the final testing phase of what’s being called a “saltless uranium processing system.”

    An operational emergency, the lowest of emergency level at the plant, was called; the building where the incident occurred was evacuated; and 33 workers were tested for exposure. Two workers had
    contamination on their clothing and one had contamination on both clothing and hair.

    Investigators concluded that the fire was caused by heat and steam generated from unreacted calcium, excess water and depleted uranium
    in an unvented container.

    The resulting overpressurization of the container caused the explosion. The shockwave from the explosion broke the seal on a glovebox, which allowed air to enter and the uranium powder - which ignites spontaneously in air - began to burn.

    In response to the fine, Y-12 spokesman Bill Wilburn said: “BWXT Y-12 takes all nuclear safety issues very seriously. This incident happened more than one year ago and was the subject of comprehensive internal and external investigations. Based on the analysis and
    lessons learned from those reviews, BWXT Y-12 has put in place appropriate controls to prevent future incidences such as this.”

    Posted by Bunny Huckett from Australia  on  06/13  at  06:23 AM

  6. How do these pictures even relate to war? Did the mothers of these babies find their way onto the battlefields and pick up some DU burning a hole in the ground?

    These pictures have no refrence in scientific fact.

    If the uranium burns itself and everything around it out, how did these mothers inhale it? Would not they have, perchance, DIED in the process? Do you have the medical records of these poor souls with genetic testing that proves DU or radioactive exposure. Trace amounts of DU lodged in their brains? Did the mothers get cancer? You could have gotten some of these from an anti-abortion web site.

    Posted by Steve B. from Kansas City  on  06/18  at  06:24 PM

  7. In the paraphrased words of the Brothers Gibb: How deep is your denial?

    Posted by Mickey Z. from  on  06/19  at  08:50 PM

  8. Bravo Mick! On the Canadian side, we supply 14% of the DU in the “war machines”, and on DND’s own web site, a comment on “spontanious ignition of DU dust”. There are a couple of Journals that have posted the scientific research of DU and Caribou, not on the plus side for the animals. This rather teams up with Canada resident expert of all things “Persian Gulf”, a “spud in Sask. has more uranium than a Persian Gulf Veteran” ( summization ) Col. Kenny Scott.

    Keep Canada honest, keep the communication coming and perhaps we may avoid becoming the “endangered Species”.

    Susan H. Riordon

    Posted by S.H. Riordon from Nova Scotia  on  07/01  at  06:15 PM

  9. The Christian Science Monitor has a fairly good rundown, Steve B. The CS Monitor is not one of those radical, ‘Merica hatin’, left wing publications published to get all true patriots’ bowels in an uproar. I assume you’re curious and not childishly trolling.

    Christian Science Monitor

    Posted by harry from upstate  on  09/17  at  07:45 PM
    10. Commenting is not available in this weblog entry. {/if}

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