[TheForge] Weird nucular facts

[Demon Buddha]

Todd Rich wrote:
> 
> 
> On Wed, 10 May 2006, Demon Buddha wrote:
> 
>>
>>
>> wmullett at bright.net wrote:
>>
>>> A good question would be - How much does this contaminate an area?  
>>> Will large battle areas end up being like the mine fields in Bosnia 
>>> and other places where children die from left over war items?
>>
>>     There were over 30 THOUSAND TONS of DU used in the first gulf war. 
>> That makes a lot of highly poisonous dust.

> 
> Where are you getting that figure?


	Hmmmm.... I clearly recall 30K tons of DU in Iraq.  It is possible that 
I simply misinterpreted what was said.  I *think* the figure came from 
an NPR report, but don't hold me to that.  I remember being quite 
shocked at that number, after all it is an awful lot of anything. 
Perhaps my surprise was well founded.  Whatever the source, it was one 
that had tacit credibility.  It may be that I simply trusted a source 
that was not worthy of it.  OTOH, I would also be a little wary of .mil 
sites on such questions.  I'm not saying they are lying, but were it so 
I would not be so surprised.

	No... I clearly remember the figure being 30K tons.  It may be wrong, 
but that is what the source quoted.  I will see if I can find it.
 >
> 
> According to http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabf.htm
> 
> The army used 50.55 tons
> The air force used 259 tons
> Navy, 4 or 5 shells.

	What in hell would the Navy be doing with it?  DU's only use of which I 
am aware is that of penetrator.  Did Iraq have a navy with armored 
ships?  I don't recall ever hearing about it.

> Marines, not sure, but it looks like their tanks used what was counted 
> in the army, and their planes used 11 tons.

	ANG also used a lot of DU in the A10, or are you counting that as part 
of the air force usage?
> 
> Looks like 321 tons.  Quite a bit, but off from your figure by a factor 
> of 100.