Is depleted uranium available commercially?

[Anonymous]

I suppose this stuff would be the ultimate choice for weight/volume. Heh.

[Anonymous]

Wow the FBI and Homeland Security will be at your door very soon for asking. Oh and they might be coming to mine next for responding to this topic. [;)]

[Anonymous]

I was thinking the same thing, especially when I had difficulty posting the message. Maybe they have filters which scan for certain words. If Homeland Security is monitoring this thread, I'm interesting in finding very small weights to add to my model railroad locomotive so that the wheels won't slip while ascending a grade.

[Texas Zepher]

Sweepings from cleaning a modern military rifle range?

[Anonymous]

maybe..maybe

[ereimer]

i hope it's not available !
you do know that it's not 100% depleted right ?

[Anonymous]

Yes..I've heard that but now we're getting into something that might truly get us in trouble.

[Anonymous]

**USGOV**
MR GAMBINO. PLEASE PROVIDE NAME, PLACE OF EMPLOYMENT & BIRTH. YOUR IP IS CURRENTLY BEING TRACED. THE SATELLITE IS AFFIXING YOUR POSITION.

I'm sorry. Just couldn't resist.
[:D]

DU is like .5% more radioactive as the common mineral uranium. It is the safe byproduct of enrichment.

Greg

[tsgtbob]

(insert sounds of helicopters here)
WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU!!!
Actually, the military is monitoring the long term health of those who were exposed to DU since it has been used as a penetrator round in large calibur direct fire weapons. (sorry, small ams are still good olde lead, with a copper jacket)
Now, for a safer alternative, try Depleted Lugubruim! (think John Armstrong here) The main drawbacks from DL is a really bad case of saddness...
[:(]

Edited for spelling of Lugubrium!

[Anonymous]

[:D]

[Anonymous]

If you want radio active materials, try the former Soviet Union.

QUOTE: From the Nova web site, Dirty Bomb, Chronology of Events
.
Lja, Georgia—Three woodcutters discover two heat-emanating containers near their campsite in the remote Abkhazia region of the Caucasus. Hoping to use the containers as a heat source, the men drag them back to their tents. Within hours they become ill with nausea, vomiting, and dizziness, and leave the site to seek treatment at a local hospital. Later, the men develop severe radiation burns on their backs. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) dispatches a team to recover the containers, but severe weather prevents them for more than a month from reaching the campsite and securing the materials. When the IAEA team finally reaches the containers in February 2002, they discover that each one, previously used in Soviet-era radiothermal generators, contains 40,000 curies of strontium, an amount of radiation equivalent to that released immediately after the accident at Chernobyl.

[Anonymous]

oh my god...

[tomikawaTT]

On a serious note, the N scale locos that were used to set the 'longest train' record were weighted with Depleted Uranium. All the modeler who did the work needed was:

1. A license issued by the AEC (predecessor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.)

2. A workshop set up like a NASA clean room.

3. A final report which accounted for every microgram of the material.

And that was a long time before 9-11.

Chuck

[nfmisso]

Go with the next best alternative: Tungsten

[Anonymous]

DU is chiefly an alpha emitter (which can be stopped by skin), so radiation is not that much a danger... BUT, depleted uranium is a toxic heavy metal. If you intake it (either breathing airborne particulates or ingest dust granules), you will get poisoned.

The reason why Depleted Uranium is tightly regulated is because it can be converted to fissionable Plutonium in a breeder reactor.

There are definitely safer alternatives to DU for weighing down a loco... Tungsten is nice, dense and heavy, but it's not cheap. Lead is probably the best in terms of price per pound. [|)]

[navygunner]

Uranium is only second in toxicity to plutonium of all the elements. A microgram is enough to give a crowd the heeby geebies. The depleted stuff is just as toxic. You might explore other heavy metal opportunities as they are not nearly as risky. I would suggest Guns-N-Roses or Led Zepplin.

[chutton01]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tomikawaTT

On a serious note, the N scale locos that were used to set the 'longest train' record were weighted with Depleted Uranium. All the modeler who did the work needed was:

1. A license issued by the AEC (predecessor to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.)

2. A workshop set up like a NASA clean room.

3. A final report which accounted for every microgram of the material.

And that was a long time before 9-11.

Chuck

Hmm, I remember asking this very same question (on this very same board) several years ago - in regards to a vague memory of a model railroader article of the 1980s about weighing N scale locomotives with DU for such purposes - and receiving a reply from an MR editor indicating that I was mistaken (and no, it was not a April Fool article).
Now, you are telling me I was correct after all? I'm afraid I am rather skeptic about this now, and will show side skeptism with, not one, but several smilies...[V] [:(!] [V] [:-^][sigh][|(]

[davekelly]

I believe the DU weighed N scale locomotive article was done by Jim (I forget his last name - Fitzgerald?) the guy that was one of the founders of N-track.

[METRO]

Wow, this isn't the kind of question you see everyday haha. I truly hope you're not serious there.

Stick with lead me mates, it's the most dense element that is non-radioactive, so that's always a plus. I'd also think that even with the possiblity of lead poisoning, that's a little better than lukemia and the other kinds of cancers possible by working with uranium!

Depleted or not, it's still a low grade radioactive matterial and as such, not the kind of thing you'd want to be playing with. I'll tell you I like the fact that all I need to work on my trains are my reading glasses. When you're getting up to a gas mask to block beta particles, well that's a bit much for me.

Cheers!
~Astral

[Anonymous]

Short answer, no, it isn't and with good reason. DU shells have been blamed for cancer cases amongst both service personnel handling them and also people living in areas where they have been used. It's radioactive and you really don't want it in the train room. Stick with lead, that can only harm you if you forget to wash properly after working with it!

[Virginian]

I'm pretty sure depleted Plutonium is what they made some military bullets, like 20mm for the Gatling gun on fighter aircraft, out of, but I do not know if it has/had a steel casing or whatever. Because it is considerably denser than lead, it gives superior ballistic performance. Conventional armour piercing is lead with a steel jacket, covered with a copper plating to engage the rifling. I have a .50 caliber in my toolbox; best center punch I've ever had.

[nfmisso]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Virginian

I'm pretty sure depleted Plutonium .....

VGN, you should double check.

[beegle55]

You can go to Wal-Mart and buy the depleted uranium weight kit. It is usually used for fishing, but it can be modified to your specs. It only costs around $40 for around 15 pounds of it. Good luck! (NOT)

[Anonymous]

You could always use GOLD, It's about the same wieght as lead without being toxic, low melting point and good resale value. Then change the name of of your RR to the Gold Line RR. :)

[beegle55]

No go get the Uranium from Wally World... ITS GRREAT!

[beegle55]

Oh yea I forgot you have to have a prescription b/c ppl use it for meth and nukes!

[RedGrey62]

Before we deployed to Iraq, we were given a briefing concerning DU and its effects. I'd stick with something a bit less confrontational!

Rick

[tomikawaTT]

There ain't no such thing as "depleted Plutonium!" Pu239 emits one alpha particle and becomes U235, the fissionable isotope of Uranium. (This is not an improvement!)

Depleted Uranium is U238, the non-reactive Uranium usotope - non-reactive meaning that it can't be used to make a fission bomb. Chemically it is VERY reactive, and deadly to living things. Among other things it is used to make armor-busting projectiles for the GAU-8, the nasty nose cannon of the A-10 Warthog - one more good reason to avoid trespassing on military gunnery ranges.

ANYTHING having to do with Uranium, depleted or otherwise, is definitely, "Do not try this at home!"

Chuck

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Among other things it is used to make armor-busting projectiles for the GAU-8, the nasty nose cannon of the A-10 Warthog

Nose cannon? ..... Its more like a fuselage built around a gun! [8D]

[Virginian]

Plutonium !?? Oh well. I guess my penchant for getting the most bang for the buck got the best of me. :-)