Switch Theme:

Non-Admech use of depleted uranium?  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
»
Author Message
Advert


Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:
  • No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
  • Times and dates in your local timezone.
  • Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
  • Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
  • Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.
If you are already a member then feel free to login now.




Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut







This is a simple one.

Adamantium is "the strongest material" known to man, but the actual specifics remain handwaved and inconsistent. However, depleted uranium is 1.67 times as dense as lead, inherently flammable, and approx 84% times as dense as osmium and iridium (the densest known materials under earth-level pressure), and is currently used for ammunition and composite tank armor.

Looking at Imperial weapons, Bolters in particular, regular Bolts are a solid-fuel weapon with a mass-reactive warhead. Kraken rounds use a diamantine core, Angelus Bolts fire razorwire, Dragonsbreath rounds use incendiary gel...but there is no notable example of Bolt weapons using depleted uranium. Likewise their absence is noted in the Imperium as a whole. The Russ Eradicator used a small subatomic core for cover-penetrating shockwaves and rad grenades are a thing, but the absence of U-238 shells is amusing.

Thoughts?
   
Made in ca
Regular Dakkanaut





Eastern Ontario

Imperial technology is more science fantasy than science fiction. They lean towards nonexistent materials and tech to sound advanced without having to be beholden to exact real-world expectations.

Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment. 
   
Made in ca
Commander of the Mysterious 2nd Legion





 Kawauso wrote:
Imperial technology is more science fantasy than science fiction. They lean towards nonexistent materials and tech to sound advanced without having to be beholden to exact real-world expectations.


This. it's an old sci-fi rule, NEVER give exact numbers etc. if you say "the armor was made of unobtanium penatratable only by Wandwavium bullets" it sounds advanced and you can't have someone go "well yeah but this material at this thickness should be penatratable by a desert eagle pistol cause *math*"

Opinions are not facts please don't confuse the two 
   
Made in ch
Legendary Dogfighter





RNAS Rockall

I believe that depleted uranium would be *obsolete* as the process used to manufacture it has been surpassed in 40k (and would be technically sophisticated enough that any attempts to replicate it would come under the censure of the Mechanicum) so there would not be enough to sustain Imperial Guard level deployments.

If on the other hand depleted uranium is still a byproduct of the abundant ship and forgeworld powerplants, it's viable that it's what makes the strength of a punisher cannon better than a heavy stubber.

One more possibility is that non-las based sniper rifles get their mortal wound capacity from such munitions.

Basically, when *plasma guns* exists, exotic solid slug munitions aren't a big deal, since fancy bullets take up more space and more weight than equivalent rounds of las or plas ammo.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/01/11 00:45:06


Some people find the idea that other people can be happy offensive, and will prefer causing harm to self improvement.  
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran






Backwoods bunker USA

Imperial Armor Book 1 has a cutaway diagram of a Leman Russ Vanquisher Mk1-S8 round - which depicts a “High Density Armor Piercing Core”.

It could be some equivalent of Depleted Uranium (less common, slightly radioactive) or Tungsten (more common, cheaper to mass produce).

That said, we don’t know to what extent uranium or other fissile material (in the case of nukes) are readily available 40K in the future and to what extent the Imperium has the tech to extract and refine it. For all we know the Imperium may have surviving Plasma tech but may have lost the tech on making waffles and handling uranium a long time ago.

Also, most Imperium weapons these days rely more on explosives (Bolters, Cannons, Missiles, Grenades) and lasers anyway (aside from the odd trio of Flamer, Plasma and Melta).

The only common solid round weapons are the autogun, stubber and the Tank AP shells (the latter of which could very well be the aforementioned depleted uranium).
   
Made in fi
Confessor Of Sins




 malamis wrote:
Basically, when *plasma guns* exists, exotic solid slug munitions aren't a big deal, since fancy bullets take up more space and more weight than equivalent rounds of las or plas ammo.


Sure, las- and plasma are preferable in many ways. Las for the abundant ammo supply in particular (nothing wrong with a lascannon either ofc) and plasma for it's destructive potential in small packages. But you can't equip every trooper with a specialist weapon. Plasma is rare, and heavier lasweapons too.

But handing out a single magazine of exotic auto/slug gun ammo to troops that already use the right weapon, like less-advanced world PDF elite or specops, looks pretty OK to me. Or any specialist unit that needs the ammo choice more than the reliability of a lasgun.
   
Made in nl
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






Spetulhu wrote:
 malamis wrote:
Basically, when *plasma guns* exists, exotic solid slug munitions aren't a big deal, since fancy bullets take up more space and more weight than equivalent rounds of las or plas ammo.


Sure, las- and plasma are preferable in many ways. Las for the abundant ammo supply in particular (nothing wrong with a lascannon either ofc) and plasma for it's destructive potential in small packages. But you can't equip every trooper with a specialist weapon. Plasma is rare, and heavier lasweapons too.

But handing out a single magazine of exotic auto/slug gun ammo to troops that already use the right weapon, like less-advanced world PDF elite or specops, looks pretty OK to me. Or any specialist unit that needs the ammo choice more than the reliability of a lasgun.

You are not thinking like a proper Imperial officer yet, cadet! Why waste the Emperor's resources on fancy ammunition when you can just send in more soldiers?

Error 404: Interesting signature not found

 
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

 MagicJuggler wrote:


Looking at Imperial weapons, Bolters in particular, regular Bolts are a solid-fuel weapon with a mass-reactive warhead. Kraken rounds use a diamantine core, Angelus Bolts fire razorwire, Dragonsbreath rounds use incendiary gel...but there is no notable example of Bolt weapons using depleted uranium. Likewise their absence is noted in the Imperium as a whole. The Russ Eradicator used a small subatomic core for cover-penetrating shockwaves and rad grenades are a thing, but the absence of U-238 shells is amusing.

Thoughts?


There are images of the regular bolt round firing a 'depleted deuterium' core, though. Which is abundant and found in heavy water.
Not uranium, handwavium or unobtanium, though.
Although in my headcanon, "Adamantium" is an alloy of 3 parts unobtanium to 2 parts handwavium, with a sprinkle of "don't matter" ( Regular matter, anti-matter, dark matter and don't matter.) which allows them to render laws of physics as flexible as they need it to be.

I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in us
Shas'ui with Bonding Knife




The Internet- where men are men, women are men, and kids are undercover cops

Just out of curiosity, do we know for sure that Adamantium *isn't* depleted Uranium?

 Jon Garrett wrote:
Perhaps not technically a Marine Chapter anymore, but the Flame Falcons would be pretty creepy to fight.

"Boss, we waz out lookin' for grub when some of them Spice Marines showed up and shot all the lads."

"Right. Well, did you at least use the burnas?"

"We tried, but the gits was already on fire."

"...Kunnin'."
 
   
Made in ca
Commander of the Mysterious 2nd Legion





 EmpNortonII wrote:
Just out of curiosity, do we know for sure that Adamantium *isn't* depleted Uranium?


given the things adamantium is used for that seems highly unlikey. DU is radioactive after all, and adamantium has never been described as such. it could be some sort of "mircle mix" that combines the toughness of DU without the radiological problems.

Opinions are not facts please don't confuse the two 
   
Made in us
The Conquerer






Waiting for my shill money from Spiral Arm Studios

Let us remember the theoretical "Island of Stability" where as yet undiscovered elements could reside on the periodic table. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_stability

Adamantium could easily be one of these theoretically stable super heavy elements that have yet to be discovered in nature or created in a lab. An element far heavier and denser than any known today, but is also not radioactive. At least to the point where it is a relatively safe construction material.

Self-proclaimed evil Cat-person. Dues Ex Felines

Cato Sicarius, after force feeding Captain Ventris a copy of the Codex Astartes for having the audacity to play Deathwatch, chokes to death on his own D-baggery after finding Calgar assembling his new Eldar army.

MURICA!!! IN SPESS!!! 
   
Made in ru
Implacable Skitarii




Time to sacrifice some catgirl abhumans on altar of God of Knowledge!

DU as alternative to tungsten is byproduct of wasteful nuclear program based on physical separation of energetic isotopes from natural uranium. As - unlike tungsten which is essential for toolmaking and metallurgy - it had almost no other uses (bein' both pyroforic heavy metal and slightly radioactive one), it was readily available to weaponmakers. It's specifics - that it's self-sharpens during penetration while basic tungsten cores mushroomed, or self-ignites that increases damage after penetration - could be now replicated with tungsten compounds too (afaik).

But major point is - 'depleting' uranium is complex and costly process, DU itself is relatively cheap only because enriched uranium covers the separation cost in first place. And even then there's lot of people who think that US army are fools using golden hammers - because DU and natural uranium CAN be 'enriched' (actually transmuted) in special kind of fission reactors called 'breeders'.

As far as we know Imperium mostly use plasma technology (and chemical fuels) for it's energy needs - so availability of DU in quantities needed by Astra Militarum is questionable...
Even if some worlds/AM use fission they most probably transmute and use up DU too.

PS On adamantium - considering that in fluff SM armour and weaponry often is forged and hammered by humans without extra protection (and they live longer than mayflies) - most probably it's not some exotic material/alloy in our sense but 'smart' alloy, something that 'crystalizes' ('adamantem' is latin for "diamond" after all) during final phase of working/repair.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/01/13 20:47:56


Without passion we'd be truly dead. 
   
Made in ca
Stormin' Stompa






Ottawa, ON

Could it be question of GW's age? Bolters use gyrojet rounds because, at the time, that looked like the tech of the future. Similarly, rhinos look like tanks from the 60's. When did armies start using depleted uranium?

Ask yourself: have you rated a gallery image today? 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







According to the internet, NATO started making DU penetrator ammo in the 70s.

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in us
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General





Beijing, China

 MagicJuggler wrote:
This is a simple one.

Adamantium is "the strongest material" known to man, but the actual specifics remain handwaved and inconsistent. However, depleted uranium is 1.67 times as dense as lead, inherently flammable, and approx 84% times as dense as osmium and iridium (the densest known materials under earth-level pressure), and is currently used for ammunition and composite tank armor.

Looking at Imperial weapons, Bolters in particular, regular Bolts are a solid-fuel weapon with a mass-reactive warhead. Kraken rounds use a diamantine core, Angelus Bolts fire razorwire, Dragonsbreath rounds use incendiary gel...but there is no notable example of Bolt weapons using depleted uranium. Likewise their absence is noted in the Imperium as a whole. The Russ Eradicator used a small subatomic core for cover-penetrating shockwaves and rad grenades are a thing, but the absence of U-238 shells is amusing.

Thoughts?

I think you have a misunderstanding of why depleted Uranium is used in weapons.

Depleted Uranium has properties very similar to regular Uranium, except lower radioactivity. It isnt stronger, tougher, noticeably denser or harder. But if you purify uranium ore and then seperate the radioactive bits to make nukes you end up with a large quantity of high quality 'depleted' uranium as a waste product. Hence is it extremely cheap.


Tungsten is denser, has a much higher melting point, is one of the hardest substances that can be formed, and is incredibly strong. We make drillbits and saw blades out of it. We use it to work and tool virtually everything we make. We use it to cut steel, because it is like steel but better in every way. It isnt radioactive
It doesnt get used in weapons, because it is ductile. It fails in shear. Under stress it deforms like warm plastic. This is bad for a projectile as it leads to spreading out around 'mushrooming' through armor rather than penetrating. For armor it tends to fail right at the point of contract, making a hole the exact dimensions of the projectile to accommodate it.

What makes uranium valuable in weapons is not it's density, flammability or strength but actually the fact that it is brittle. It breaks like ice, cast iron, chaulk or granite, it fails axially and never in shear. This is terrible if you want to build a bridge, but for weapons it is exactly what you want. As a projectile it makes a hard pointed surface which fails by having small pieces of it break off at 45 degree angles. IE a brittle javelin coming at a tank, bores through it by sharpening itself in failure while throwing off little shards of itself at high speed and temperature. As an armor, it spreads the impact beyond the cross section of the projectile.



Dark Mechanicus and Renegade Iron Hand Dakka Blog
My Dark Mechanicus P&M Blog. Mostly Modeling as I paint very slowly. Lots of kitbashed conversions of marines and a few guard to make up a renegade Iron Hand chapter and Dark Mechanicus Allies. Bionics++  
   
Made in ru
Implacable Skitarii




 Exergy wrote:


It doesnt get used in weapons, because it is ductile. It fails in shear. Under stress it deforms like warm plastic. This is bad for a projectile as it leads to spreading out around 'mushrooming' through armor rather than penetrating. For armor it tends to fail right at the point of contract, making a hole the exact dimensions of the projectile to accommodate it.



Not factually correct - T was used in AP shells since at least WWII, and still is - for. ex. by Germany, Israel and countries relying on imported or licensed munitions, while RF develops, produces and use both DU and T APFSDSes .

PS And at speeds in excess of 2000 m/s T is actually self-sharpening, it's just that current guns/powders can't realistically produce such speeds at meaningful ranges (iirc 2.5 kps muzzle velocity is THEORETICAL maximum for current gunpowders in atmposphere).

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/01/15 00:40:13


Without passion we'd be truly dead. 
   
Made in us
Imperial Agent Provocateur






Doesn't the admech use a weapon called the Trans-Uranic Arquebus? Presumably, that would use metals that are basically uranium (or alloys using it), if a bit heavier.

1500pts Kabal of the Blood Moon
200pts Order of Ash and Silver
 
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Could it be question of GW's age? Bolters use gyrojet rounds because, at the time, that looked like the tech of the future. Similarly, rhinos look like tanks from the 60's. When did armies start using depleted uranium?


Pretty sure bolters use gyrojets because that's what the Stainless Steel rat used (in his .75cal recoilless gun that he sometimes carried) and 40k was soooooo derivative of the SF of its time. SSR, Judge Dredd, Foundation, Dune, Deathworld, starship troopers and a few others. Yes, gyrocs were seen as a "weapon of the future" but like many things, the tech wasn't up to it.

DU started being used in the 70s. Came into more common knowledge in the 80s.

I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in gb
Insect-Infested Nurgle Chaos Lord






Castellan Vauban's (iirc) Bolt pistol in Storm of Iron has bolts with depleted uranium in them FWIW.


Games Workshop Delenda Est.

Users on ignore- 53.

If you break apart my or anyone else's posts line by line I will not read them. 
   
Made in fr
Longtime Dakkanaut




About the fact that depleted uranium is mostly used on earth because it's "cheap" (since it's a by-product of enriched uranium):
- the Imperium probably doesn't care about irradiating its soldiers, so they might just use non-refined uranium. It might still pose problems with storing, but if the only side effect is to slightly decrease a soldier's or worker's life expectancy, no one cares.
- the uranium isotopic ratio would be different on other planets: the 235U half-life is 0.7 billion years. So natural uranium obtained from a planet that is a billion years older that earth would be what we call depleted uranium. And a planet ~2 billion years older than earth would have extremely depleted uranium. In other words, the IoM can obtained enriched or depleted uranium by mining planets of different age, rather than going through a separation process like we do on earth.
   
Made in ru
Implacable Skitarii




fresus wrote:
About the fact that depleted uranium is mostly used on earth because it's "cheap" (since it's a by-product of enriched uranium):
- the Imperium probably doesn't care about irradiating its soldiers, so they might just use non-refined uranium. It might still pose problems with storing, but if the only side effect is to slightly decrease a soldier's or worker's life expectancy, no one cares.


Actually radiation plays havoc with unshielded electronics too - so non-milgrade tech will suffer, needlessly. And thus it'll pain AM.
Same applies to structural materials - special rad-hardened alloys are needed for surviving prolonged eposures.
More than that, you just CAN'T store items with 'active' uranium isotopes without them losing shape, not over timeframes Departmento Munitorium operates (Unless stored in costly stasis field). Over time your NU ammo will be performing worse than Ork bullets in AM explorer's tests.

Without passion we'd be truly dead. 
   
Made in de
Lesser Daemon of Chaos





 chromedog wrote:
Pretty sure bolters use gyrojets.

Gyrojet is a projectile propulsion technology, not a material. Gyrojets could be made out of any common and uncommon metal really, if its not too soft...

Adamantium could be an alloy that requires special treatment for making it - instead of 'just' the material for the recipe. Possibly such a treatment that they can't manage to automate it and instead have to rely on "cooks" (forgemasters , fabricator tech dudes or whatnot) and their experience to make small quantities just right. Being supposedly magical it could combine the density and strength properties of uranium with tungsten, but be easy to work and adapt via alloys like steel and possibly even changed in property 'after the fact'
Could also be a metal alloy that has been 'convinced' to use diamond cubic crystal structure instead of the normal cubic one.

In my headcanon IG tanks/vehicles are like early cold war tanks - often lined with lead liners for spall protection and radioactive shielding. The "'old guard" (cadians, valhallans, ... 3rd edition stuff) also had pretty low tech level - comparable to 1950 to 1970 tech at best. So their electronics could be much more resistant ( e.g. using vacuum tube technology and analog electronics - which is also why their stuff is ... heavy and unpredictable at times, as as each tube can behave a bit differently). Reading the IA Books it seems to me that the better armor piercing rounds are pretty rare and often only used by dedicated Vehicles (Vanquishers). The normal AP rounds will be yer old standard WW2 APHE design. Makes sense, because Tungsten and uranium are heavy elements -> they are much rarer than lighter elements because they get "bred" in lower numbers during super novae. Which is why mass production armies with all-time wartime economy generally would not want to give some mong tank crew a tank using rare materials - even if they have many planets.

Nuclear fission reactors could still be a thing - but due to their less desirable qualities (less output, more complicated cooling, instability) it makes sense that anyone who can would ditch them in favor of fusion reactors (plasma...) would do so. They could still be used by those who cant afford or have no good connections to admech to trade for better stuff - mining colonies and lesser tech planets and so on. It may go wrong occasionally when stuff fails. Somewhere there's propably a planet called "Tcherno Byl IV" that had problems with running it's massive reactor facilities...

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/01/22 23:59:54



40k - IW: 3.2k; IG: 2.7k; Nids: 2.5k; FB - WoC: 5k; FB-DE: 5k 
   
Made in us
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General





Beijing, China

fresus wrote:
About the fact that depleted uranium is mostly used on earth because it's "cheap" (since it's a by-product of enriched uranium):
- the Imperium probably doesn't care about irradiating its soldiers, so they might just use non-refined uranium. It might still pose problems with storing, but if the only side effect is to slightly decrease a soldier's or worker's life expectancy, no one cares.
- the uranium isotopic ratio would be different on other planets: the 235U half-life is 0.7 billion years. So natural uranium obtained from a planet that is a billion years older that earth would be what we call depleted uranium. And a planet ~2 billion years older than earth would have extremely depleted uranium. In other words, the IoM can obtained enriched or depleted uranium by mining planets of different age, rather than going through a separation process like we do on earth.


Regular uranium isn't that dangerous. It's the enriched stuff you have to worry about.
For the stuff found on earth, or indeed most parts of the universe, it takes 170kg of pure uranium to yield 1 kg of enriched uranium(and 169 kg of depleted uranium). It then takes about 15-20 kgs to make a bomb. So each bomb produces ~2 tons of depleted uranium.

Dark Mechanicus and Renegade Iron Hand Dakka Blog
My Dark Mechanicus P&M Blog. Mostly Modeling as I paint very slowly. Lots of kitbashed conversions of marines and a few guard to make up a renegade Iron Hand chapter and Dark Mechanicus Allies. Bionics++  
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter






Odd question but how hard is it to find and refine uranium.

it may not be viable for the imperium to go running around looking for it when it appears they have already mastered fusion tech.

there are probably the odd "modern" era worlds that may get into it but if it eventually does not meet the output requirements of the imperium then there is no reason to refine and so there wont be any byproduct for d shells.

 Unit1126PLL wrote:
 Scott-S6 wrote:
And yet another thread is hijacked for Unit to ask for the same advice, receive the same answers and make the same excuses.

Oh my god I'm becoming martel.
Send help!

 
   
Made in ru
Implacable Skitarii




 Desubot wrote:
Odd question but how hard is it to find and refine uranium.
there are probably the odd "modern" era worlds that may get into it but if it eventually does not meet the output requirements of the imperium then there is no reason to refine and so there wont be any byproduct for d shells.


On other hand - given existense of 'patterns' in imperial technology - it won't be miracle if some 'Mk123 G5 Nuovo Uralsk pattern AP shells" (initially produced for some emergency from materials at hand then sent by DM to some other emergency zone) are DU APFSDS while 'Nusevelska-pattern' 2nd gen. Baneblade' incorporates DU elements in armour (to emulate proper plasteel/ceramite composites FW can't produce)..but it'll be something rare and not necessarily superior to 'standart' Mars-pattern - thus it would be omitted in any generalization (grouped with all other 'inferior or exotic patterns').
Basically - if something is more or less up to STC specs - it could be used somewhere somewhen by someone as ersatz for 'proper stuff'. Not that somebody other than cogboys and DM clercs will take note of that as long as it's does it's job.

Without passion we'd be truly dead. 
   
Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







 Desubot wrote:
Odd question but how hard is it to find and refine uranium.

s.


Well we managed it before space travel and before widespread use of jet engines...

Please excuse any spelling errors. I use a tablet frequently and software keyboards are a pain!

Terranwing - w3;d1;l1
51st Dunedinw2;d0;l0
Cadre Coronal Afterglow w1;d0;l0 
   
Made in us
Legendary Master of the Chapter






 Flinty wrote:
 Desubot wrote:
Odd question but how hard is it to find and refine uranium.

s.


Well we managed it before space travel and before widespread use of jet engines...


Well does that mean it was particularly efficient.

How much resource and man power would be needed to run a thing and is it worth the power or bombs generated from it.

if its no better or worse than some STC plasma/fusion generator/bomb then i highly doubt they would even bother putting work into it. unless seriously cut off from that kinda tech.


 Unit1126PLL wrote:
 Scott-S6 wrote:
And yet another thread is hijacked for Unit to ask for the same advice, receive the same answers and make the same excuses.

Oh my god I'm becoming martel.
Send help!

 
   
Made in us
Pyromaniac Hellhound Pilot






Maryland, USA

 Desubot wrote:
Odd question but how hard is it to find and refine uranium.

it may not be viable for the imperium to go running around looking for it when it appears they have already mastered fusion tech.

there are probably the odd "modern" era worlds that may get into it but if it eventually does not meet the output requirements of the imperium then there is no reason to refine and so there wont be any byproduct for d shells.


I think they're less "running around looking for it" and more "encountering it while mining the sh*t out of worlds".

Codex: Soyuzki - A fluffy guidebook to my Astra Militarum subfaction. Now version 0.6!
Another way would be to simply slide the landraider sideways like a big slowed hovercraft full of eels. -pismakron
Sometimes a little murder is necessary in this hobby. -necrontyrOG

Out-of-the-loop from November 2010 - November 2017 so please excuse my ignorance!
 
   
Made in pl
Longtime Dakkanaut





BrianDavion wrote:
 EmpNortonII wrote:
Just out of curiosity, do we know for sure that Adamantium *isn't* depleted Uranium?


given the things adamantium is used for that seems highly unlikey. DU is radioactive after all

No it's not. That's what 'depleted' means - vast majority of radioactive material is gone, leaving behind completely neutral bits. Hell, you can buy depleted uranium weights for stabilizing fancy boats, or to lower the centre of gravity of racing cars - uses that would be hardly possible if the chunk of metal you put under your seat was radioactive, eh?
   
Made in se
Swift Swooping Hawk





 Irbis wrote:

No it's not. That's what 'depleted' means - vast majority of radioactive material is gone, leaving behind completely neutral bits. Hell, you can buy depleted uranium weights for stabilizing fancy boats, or to lower the centre of gravity of racing cars - uses that would be hardly possible if the chunk of metal you put under your seat was radioactive, eh?

It's about 40% percent less radioactive than natural uranium, but still clearly radioactive. It's also poisonous, and these are both reasons it's not used more.

Craftworld Sciatháin 4180 pts  
   
 
Forum Index » 40K Background
Go to: