Depleted uranium

[Nindiri]

Does anyone know if the old Boeing jets are still using depleted uranium for counterweights and ballast? I could probably do a net search but I'm much too lazy.

 

[Mr Wu]

Does anyone know if the old Boeing jets are still using depleted uranium for counterweights and ballast? I could probably do a net search but I'm much too lazy.

Last overhaul I did with Delta on a 727 had them strapped to the forward bulkhead. That was 1998.

 

[Hovernut]

Fun with DU

It's freaky how heavy an object made of DU is. We used various shapes of the stuff at the accelerator I used to work at for radiation dosimetry and shielding experiments. You'd hand a new guy this billiard ball sized piece of DU while hiding your strain at the weight and watch them topple over when unexpectedly taking the weight! :nuts: DU is about 5 times heavier than iron.

It's fine to handle, just don't eat it, along with the leaded paint chips. The alpha radiation it emits doesn't penetrate the dead layer of your skin, but will do massive damage to the soft tissues of your innards. And, being a heavy metal, will seek your bones and do chemical damage as well. That's why you'll mostly see DU encased in a skin of stainless steel or the like.

FYI, we used DU in submarines for ballast as well.