> > > > Other researchers suggest new types of radioactive > > weapons may have been used in Afghanistan.
I am not a nuclear physicist, but I would think that weapons scientists would use some other (man-made) radioactive material other than Uranium. AFAIK, Uranium is only used in DU rounds, and this is depleted (its practically lead).
No. Naturally-occurring uranium is about 99.3% U-238 (half-life 4.5 billion years) and 0.7% U-235. Only the U-235 is fissionable, so the two isotopes must be separated for use in nuclear power plants or nuclear bombs. The left-over non-fissionable material (99.6 to 99.7% U-238 IIRC, as the separation process is not perfect) is what is called "depleted uranium" and used in places where a metal which is significantly denser than lead is desired, such as armor-piercing rounds and as the counterweights for the control surfaces on aircraft. (From <<http://www.science.co.il/PTelements.asp?s=Density>>, the density of uranium is 17.95 g/cm^3, and the density of lead is 11.35 g/cm^3, so a given volume of uranium has 1.58 times the mass of the same volume of lead.)
-- Ronn! :)
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