Do the tank shells being fired in Lebanon contain depleted uranium?

[Bozita]

I've looked unsuccessfully for the answer.

[AngryAmish]

1. Depends

If Israel has US rounds then maybe. DU is used by US armor penetrating sabot rounds. A sabot round does not have explosive other than the charge to get it flying. I don't think Hezbollah has any armor so the used of a sabot round would make no sense.

If they are using high explosive rounds then DU is not being used.

Remember DU is dangerous because it is a toxic heavy metal (like lead). It is radioactive but not very dangerous in that sense.

[Recursion]

5. It's less radioactive than bricks; the danger is the toxicity

If forces were following the SOP to clean up spent DU rounds after engagements, it wouldn't be that much of an issue. It would also save tons of money since the APFSDS/DU round is meant to be salvagable (it's essentially a big javelin made of I think tungsten with a uranium core; shoot it through a tank, pick it up, ship it back to the manufacturer and they can reuse the heavy metals). The problem is, they leave them lying there and the tungsten, manganese and uranium get into the groundwater. Bad news.

[acmejack]

2. Primarily used in anti armor rounds

One would think that the tanks would be using HE rounds in this type of engagement.
snip>
Depleted uranium is the staple in the ammunition used by the M1A2 Abrams main battle tank , and in the 30 mm rapid fire Gatling gun in the A-10 attack aircraft and Apache AH64 helicopter. The Gatling cannon fires 4,000 rounds per minute of 30 mm armor-piercing munition, delivering 1,200 kilograms of depleted uranium per minute!

http://www.cursor.org/stories/uranium.htm

[Kagemusha]

3. Hezbollah doesn't have tanks that I'm aware of.

So probably not... the Israelis will be saving those rounds for Syria.

[Recursion]

4. Not much of a use case for it

DU rounds are used against armor like tanks or hardened bunkers. I suppose Hezbollah might have some hardened bunkers, but Israel seems to prefer saturation bombing to take those out by compression.

While there are all kinds of problems with depleted uranium rounds, lets not forget that they can be better than the alternative: a single DU round can take out a tank with no damage to the surroundings; the alternative is an artillery barrage that will flatten every building for a block and break all glass for 3 blocks in every direction.

[MadHound]

6. And yet a DU round leaves a lethal dose of dust

One that will continue to plague the area where it hits for generations to come.

Pick your poison, on the one hand you have an explosive round that leaves widespread, devestating, yet relatively short lived effects. On the other hand you have a round that does relatively little immediate damage, yet has long term devestating effects.:shrug:

Myself, I would prefer to stay away from the long term effects. The round hits, does damage and is done. You don't have to worry about it for generations to come.

[Recursion]

7. There's plenty of manganese in HE rounds

You can't escape toxicity whatever kind of round you use. Though you're right that DU is more and worse toxins.

[MadHound]

8. Manganese doesn't have a half life

Of a few hundred thousand year, thus retaining its capability to be the gift that keeps on giving.

[Recursion]

9. Again, it's not the radioactivity that's the problem

It's the toxicity. Both manganese and uranium will be toxic from now until the end of the world.

[MadHound]

11. Actually, radioactivity is part of the problem

DU is a weak alpha and beta emitter. While this is no real threat to a human while outside the body(alpha particles are blocked by the skin, beta is blocked by a layer as thin as a sheet of paper), once DU is ingested or inhaled into the body where no such protections exist, it can indeed cause damage and real problems.

[unhappycamper]

10. If US weapons systems are being used,

chances are depleted uranium is in the mix. Here's a good primer on the subject.