Civilian uses include counterweights in aircraft, radiation shielding in medical radiation therapy and industrial radiography equipment, and containers for transporting radioactive materials. Uranium slowly accumulates in several organs, such as the liver, spleen, and kidneys. Republicans argued that small nuclear weapons appear more likely to be used than large nuclear weapons, and thus small nuclear weapons pose a more credible threat that has more of a deterrent effect against hostile behavior. [63] In April 2009, the Belgian Senate voted unanimously to restrict investments by Belgian banks into the manufacturers of depleted uranium weapons. The text of the 2007 law allowed for two years to pass until it came into force. [41] In a three-week period of conflict in Iraq during 2003, it was estimated that between 1,000 and 2,000 tonnes of depleted uranium munitions were used. [7], The chemical toxicity of depleted uranium is identical to that of natural uranium and about a million times greater in vivo than DU's radiological hazard,[96] with the kidney considered to be the main target organ. Because of its high density, depleted uranium can also be used in tank armor, sandwiched between sheets of steel armor plate. The United States Navy's Phalanx CIWS's M61 Vulcan Gatling gun used 20mm armor-piercing penetrator rounds with discarding plastic sabots and a core made using depleted uranium, later changed to tungsten. Epidemiological studies and toxicological tests on laboratory animals point to it as being immunotoxic,[102] teratogenic,[103][104] neurotoxic,[105] with carcinogenic and leukemogenic potential. [2] Natural uranium contains about 0.72% 235U, while the DU used by the U.S. Department of Defense contains 0.3% 235U or less. [157], On 8 December 1988, an A-10 Thunderbolt II attack jet of the United States Air Force crashed onto a residential area in the city of Remscheid, West Germany. Several US nuclear weapons, partial weapons, or weapons components are thought[9] to be lost and unrecovered, primarily in aircraft accidents. During the 1950s and 1960s, elaborate computerized early warning systems such as Defense Support Program were developed to detect incoming Soviet attacks and to coordinate response strategies. One of the first products of this was the development of rockets capable of holding nuclear warheads. [86], The Air Force has modernized its Minuteman III missiles to last through 2030, and a Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) is set to begin replacing them in 2029. particulate or gaseous), oxidation state (e.g. Latest breaking news, including politics, crime and celebrity. [citation needed] This application is controversial because the DU might enter the environment if the aircraft crashes. [48] Moreover, some of these commanders subdelegated to lower commanders the authority to launch nuclear weapons under similar circumstance. A lock ( ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the .gov website. Three main pathways exist by which internalization of uranium may occur: inhalation, ingestion, and embedded fragments or shrapnel contamination. This change was part of the 2004 fiscal year defense authorization. The plane got as close as 8,000 feet above the site before the hijackers' demands were met. Consequently, a DU projectile of given mass has a smaller diameter than an equivalent lead projectile, with less aerodynamic drag and deeper penetration because of a higher pressure at point of impact. Warheads on Deployed ICBMs, on Deployed SLBMs. May be due to combined chemical exposure rather than DU alone, Conjunctivitis, irritation inflammation, edema, ulceration of conjunctival sacs, Decrease in RBC count and hemoglobin concentration, Myocarditis resulting from the uranium ingestion, which ended 6 months after ingestion, This page was last edited on 8 November 2022, at 15:32. Estimating exact numbers, and the exact consequences, of people exposed has been medically very difficult, with the exception of the high exposures of Marshall Islanders and Japanese fishers in the case of the Castle Bravo incident in 1954. [47] For example, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, on 24 October 1962, General Thomas Power, commander of the Strategic Air Command (SAC), took the country to DEFCON 2, the very precipice of full-scale nuclear war, launching the SAC bombers of the US with nuclear weapons ready to strike. [122] A major 2006 review of peer-reviewed literature by a US Institute of Medicine committee concluded that, "[b]ecause the symptoms vary greatly among individuals", they do not point to a syndrome unique to Gulf War veterans, though their report conceded that the lack of objective pre-deployment health data meant definitive conclusions were effectively impossible. DU penetrator from the A-10 30mm round", "UN Environment Programme Confirms Uranium 236 found in depleted uranium penetrators", "New Research Shows Gulf War Illness Not Caused by Depleted Uranium From Munitions", "Uranium and other contaminants in hair from the parents of children with congenital anomalies in Fallujah, Iraq", "Depleted Uranium: A By-product of the Nuclear Chain", "NATO: 50 Countries See No Depleted Uranium Illness", "Is an Armament Sickening U.S. One formulation has a composition of 99.25% by mass of depleted uranium and 0.75% by mass of titanium. Typically, the uranium shield is supported and enclosed in polyurethane foam for thermal, mechanical and oxidation protection. Each branch of the military also maintained its own nuclear-related research agencies (generally related to delivery systems). [30][31][32], After the 1989 end of the Cold War and the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, the U.S. nuclear program was heavily curtailed, halting its program of nuclear testing, ceasing its production of new nuclear weapons, and reducing its stockpile by half by the mid-1990s under President Bill Clinton. Studies by the U.S. Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute conclude that moderate exposures to either depleted uranium or uranium present a significant toxicological threat. Because of their limited range, their potential use was heavily constrained (they could not, for example, threaten Moscow with an immediate strike). [84], In 2019, the Trump administration has outlined plans to modernize all legs of the nuclear triad. [27] Brown says that most of this radioactive contamination over the years at Hanford were part of normal operations, but unforeseen accidents did occur and plant management kept this secret, as the pollution continued unabated. Starting in 1946, the U.S. based its initial deterrence force on the Strategic Air Command, which, by the late 1950s, maintained a number of nuclear-armed bombers in the sky at all times, prepared to receive orders to attack the USSR whenever needed. [25] as well as much smaller tactical atomic weapons for battlefield use. ERDA was short-lived, however, and in 1977 the U.S. nuclear weapons activities were reorganized under the Department of Energy,[67] which maintains such responsibilities through the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration. The Bush administration wanted the repeal so that they could develop weapons to address the threat from North Korea. Thus most civilian reactors as well as all naval reactors and nuclear weapons production require fuel containing concentrated U-235 and generate depleted uranium. [58] The ambassador from the Netherlands explained his negative vote as being due to the reference in the preamble to the resolution "to potential harmful effects of the use of depleted uranium munitions on human health and the environment [which] cannot, in our view, be supported by conclusive scientific studies conducted by relevant international organizations. Ingestion or inhalation may be fatal. [83], In military conflicts involving DU munitions, the major concern is inhalation of DU particles in aerosols arising from the impacts of DU-enhanced projectiles with their targets. The levels were stated as not a cause for alarm. The term "mutual assured destruction" was coined in 1962 by American strategist Donald Brennan. [124] Aside from the lack of baseline data to guide analysis of the veterans' postwar health, because no detailed health screening was carried out when the veterans entered service, another major stumbling block with some studies, like the thousand-veteran one, is that the subjects are self-selected, rather than a random sample, making general conclusions impossible. [135], In 2003, Professor Brian Spratt FRS, chairman of the Royal Society's working group on depleted uranium, said: "The question of who carries out the initial monitoring and clean-up is a political rather than scientific question," and "the coalition needs to acknowledge that depleted uranium is a potential hazard and make in-roads into tackling it by being open about where and how much depleted uranium has been deployed. "[153], In 2018, Serbia set up a commission of inquiry into the consequences of the use of depleted uranium during the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in southern Serbia and its link to the rise of diseases and tumors among citizens, particularly in young children born after 1999. The group compares the dramatic increase, five years after wartime exposure in 2004, with the lymphoma that Italian peacekeepers[147] developed after the Balkan wars and the increased cancer risk in certain parts of Sweden because of the Chernobyl fallout. [11], The actual level of acute and chronic toxicity of DU is also controversial. US Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations at 10 CFR 40.25 establish a general license for the use of depleted uranium contained in industrial products or devices for mass-volume applications. [97] Health effects of DU are determined by factors such as the extent of exposure and whether it was internal or external. Moreover, the absolute uranium concentrations indicate that there was no contamination of the earthworm species studied. [93] The same year, a cohort study of Gulf War veterans found no elevated risks of cancer generally, nor of any specific cancers in particular, though recommended follow up studies.[117]. [149] Despite its known use by Coalition forces, no depleted uranium has been found in soil samples taken from Fallujah. The full transference of activities was finalized in January 1947. In 1940 the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC) was established, coordinating work under the Committee on Uranium among its other wartime efforts. The DU content in various ammunition is 180g in 20mm projectiles, 200g in 25mm ones, 280g in 30mm, 3.5kg in 105mm, and 4.5kg in 120mm penetrators. Such ordinary fission bombs would henceforth be regarded as small tactical nuclear weapons. [55] The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 allows for U.S. citizens exposed to radiation or other health risks through the U.S. nuclear program to file for compensation and damages. After the development of the first nuclear weapons during World War II, though, there was much debate within the political circles and public sphere of the United States about whether or not the country should attempt to maintain a monopoly on nuclear technology, or whether it should undertake a program of information sharing with other nations (especially its former ally and likely competitor, the Soviet Union), or submit control of its weapons to some sort of international organization (such as the United Nations) who would use them to attempt to maintain world peace. [53], The European Parliament has repeatedly passed resolutions requesting an immediate moratorium on the further use of depleted uranium ammunition,[54][55] but France and Britain the only European states that are permanent members of the United Nations Security Councilhave consistently rejected calls for a ban,[56] maintaining that its use continues to be legal, and that the health risks are unsubstantiated. [151], A 2003 study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that low levels of contaminant were found in drinking water and air particulate at DU penetrator impact points. For example, metallic uranium is less toxic compared to hexavalent uranium(VI) uranyl compounds such as uranium trioxide (UO3).[99][100]. [143][144] In 2003, the Royal Society called for Western militaries to disclose where and how much DU they had used in Iraq so that rigorous, and hopefully conclusive, studies could be undertaken out in affected areas. [50], According to the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, depleted uranium does not meet the legal definitions of nuclear, radiological, toxin, chemical, poison or incendiary weapons, as far as DU ammunition is not designed nor intended to kill or wound by its chemical or radiological effects. Before and during the Cold War, it conducted 1,054 nuclear tests, and tested many long-range nuclear weapons delivery systems. Most military use of depleted uranium has been as 30 mm ordnance, primarily the 30mm PGU-14/B armour-piercing incendiary round from the GAU-8 Avenger cannon of the A-10 Thunderbolt II used by the United States Air Force. As mentioned, the International Court of Justice considers this rule binding customary humanitarian law. Since 238U has a much longer half-life than the lighter isotopes, DU emits less alpha radiation than natural uranium. Deployed and Non-deployed Launchers of ICBMs, Each heavy bomber is counted as one warhead (The, The nuclear weapon delivery capability has been removed from, Biello, David. The vulnerability of DUF6 storage cylinders to terrorist attack is apparently not the subject of public reports. [9][10] In 1998, the country spent an estimated total of $35.1 billion on its nuclear weapons and weapons-related programs. The World Health Organization has established a daily "tolerated intake" of soluble uranium salts for the general public of 0.5 micrograms per kilogram (3.5106gr/lb) body weight, or 35 micrograms (0.00054gr) for a 70 kilograms (150lb) adult. In addition to deploying weapons on its own soil, during the Cold War, the United States also stationed nuclear weapons in 27 foreign countries and territories, including Okinawa (which was US-controlled until 1971,) Japan (during the occupation immediately following World War II), Greenland, Germany, Taiwan, and French Morocco then independent Morocco.[68]. Depleted uranium can be used as a tamper, or neutron reflector, in fission bombs. [168] Chemical effects, including potential reproductive issues, associated with depleted uranium exposure were discussed in some detail in a subsequent journal paper. The question of whether these missiles should be based on constantly rotating train tracks (to avoid being easily targeted by opposing Soviet missiles) or based in heavily fortified silos (to possibly withstand a Soviet attack) was a major political controversy in the 1980s (eventually the silo deployment method was chosen). In depleted uranium the amounts of U-235 and U-234 are both reduced, but there is still much more radiation from the U-234 than from the U-235. [citation needed], The US and NATO militaries used DU penetrator rounds in the 1991 Gulf War, the Bosnia war,[19] bombing of Serbia, the 2003 invasion of Iraq,[20] and 2015 airstrikes on ISIS in Syria. Uses of DU take advantage of its very high density of 19.1 grams per cubic centimetre (0.69lb/cuin) (68.4% denser than lead). [78] By 14 August 2010, the program had already identified 45,799 civilians who lost their health (including 18,942 who developed cancer) due to exposure to radiation and toxic substances while producing nuclear weapons for the United States. Enriched uranium was first manufactured in the early 1940s when the United States and Britain began their nuclear weapons programs. NATO has repeatedly claimed that depleted uranium found in the ammunition used in the 1999 bombardments cannot be linked to adverse health effects. The B61 nuclear bomb is the primary thermonuclear gravity bomb in the United States Enduring Stockpile following the end of the Cold War.It is a low to intermediate-yield strategic and tactical nuclear weapon featuring a two-stage radiation implosion design.. 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Harold Hering and the forbidden question that cost him his career", "Debate Over Trump's Fitness Raises Issue of Checks on Nuclear Power", "To Launch a Nuclear Strike, President Trump Would Take These Steps", "At the Titan Site, the Blasts Came at 3 a.m. . [162], A 2001 oncology study concluded that "the present scientific consensus is that DU exposure to humans, in locations where DU ammunition was deployed, is very unlikely to give rise to cancer induction". [119][120] In 1999, an assessment of the first 1,000 veterans involved in the Ministry of Defence's Gulf War medical assessment programme found "no evidence" of a single illness, physical or mental, that would explain the pattern of symptoms observed in the group. [54] Radioactive materials are known to be leaking from Hanford into the environment. First, in a prominent 2009 speech, U.S. President Barack Obama outlined a goal of "a world without nuclear weapons". According to Brown, the plants at Hanford, over a period of four decades, released millions of curies of radioactive isotopes into the surrounding environment. Though its land-based missile systems have a maximum range of 10,000 kilometres (6,200mi) (less than worldwide), its submarine-based forces extend its reach from a coastline 12,000 kilometres (7,500mi) inland. The committee authorized a working paper, in the context of human rights and humanitarian norms, of the weapons. [87] The Navy has undertaken efforts to extend the operational lives of its missiles in warheads past 2020; it is also producing new Columbia-class submarines to replace the Ohio fleet beginning 2031. [123] Simon Wessely praised the IOM's review, and noted that, despite its central conclusion that no novel syndrome existed, its other findings made it "equally clear that service in the Gulf war did aversely affect health in some personnel". [159] 120 residents and rescue workers reported skin diseases. [164], A 2002 study from the Australian defense ministry concluded that "there has been no established increase in mortality or morbidity in workers exposed to uranium in uranium processing industries studies of Gulf War veterans show that, in those who have retained fragments of depleted uranium following combat related injury, it has been possible to detect elevated urinary uranium levels, but no kidney toxicity or other adverse health effects related to depleted uranium after a decade of follow-up. The biological half-life (the average time it takes for the human body to eliminate half the amount in the body) for uranium is about 15 days. [26], Most depleted uranium is stored as uranium hexafluoride, a toxic crystalline solid, (D).mw-parser-output .template-chem2-su{display:inline-block;font-size:80%;line-height:1;vertical-align:-0.35em}.mw-parser-output .template-chem2-su>span{display:block;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output sub.template-chem2-sub{font-size:80%;vertical-align:-0.35em}.mw-parser-output sup.template-chem2-sup{font-size:80%;vertical-align:0.65em}UF6, in steel cylinders in open air storage yards close to enrichment plants. The aerosol or spallation frangible powder produced by impact and combustion of depleted uranium munitions can potentially contaminate wide areas around the impact sites, leading to possible inhalation by human beings. A high density tamper like DU makes for a longer-lasting, more energetic, and more efficient explosion. Included in the list was weaponry containing depleted uranium. "[152], A team of Italian scientists from the University of Siena reported in 2005 that, although DU was "clearly" added to the soil in the study area, "the phenomenon was very limited spatially and the total uranium concentrations fell within the natural range of the element in soils. The four have created the Nuclear Security Project to advance this agenda. By investing heavily in breeding plutonium in early nuclear reactors and in the electromagnetic and gaseous diffusion enrichment processes for the production of uranium-235, the United States was able to develop three usable weapons by mid-1945. A 18 February 2021 report titled "Resolving whether inhalation of depleted uranium contributed to Gulf War Illness using high-sensitivity mass spectrometry by Randall R. Parrish and Robert W. Haley concluded that uranium from exploding munitions did not lead to Gulf War illness (GWI) in veterans deployed in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The report warns that "All personnel should be aware that uranium dust inhalation carries a long-term risk [the dust] has been shown to increase the risks of developing lung, lymph and brain cancers. The IAEA concluded that, while depleted uranium is a potential carcinogen, there is no evidence that it has been carcinogenic in humans. [90] On 12 June 1982, one million people demonstrated in New York City's Central Park against nuclear weapons and for an end to the cold war arms race. In response to these studies, Ross Caputi, a former U.S. Marine who participated in the battle, wrote a Guardian article calling for the United States government to conduct its own study into the matter. Shorter-range weapons, including small tactical weapons, were fielded in Europe as well, including nuclear artillery and man-portable Special Atomic Demolition Munition. [75] DU counterweights manufactured with cadmium plating are considered non-hazardous as long as the plating is intact.[76]. Depleted uranium was released during the crash of El Al Flight 1862 on 4 October 1992, in which 152 kilograms (335lb) was lost, but a case study concluded that there was no evidence to link depleted uranium from the plane to any health problems. As of 2017, the US has an estimated 4,018 nuclear weapons in either deployment or storage. Depleted uranium was originally stored as an unusable waste product (uranium hexafluoride) in the hope that improved enrichment processes could extract additional quantities of the fissionable U-235 isotope. During this same period, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems were developed that could deliver a nuclear payload across vast distances, allowing the U.S. to house nuclear forces capable of hitting the Soviet Union in the American Midwest. In 2008, 686,500 tonnes (756,700 short tons) in 57,122 storage cylinders were located near Portsmouth, Ohio; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Paducah, Kentucky. The most significant of these was the Castle Bravo test, which spread radioactive ash over an area of over 100 square miles (260km2), including a number of populated islands. In 1972, three hijackers took control of a domestic passenger flight along the east coast of the U.S. and threatened to crash the plane into a U.S. nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. One person died; while a few workers with higher exposure experienced short-term kidney damage (e.g., protein in the urine), none of them showed lasting damage from the exposure to uranium. Staballoys are approximately 1.67 times as dense as lead and are designed for use in kinetic energy penetrator armor-piercing ammunition. [31] The U.S. government has been converting depleted UF6 to solid uranium oxides for use or disposal. [93][94] There were many Nevada Desert Experience protests and peace camps at the Nevada Test Site during the 1980s and 1990s. One hundred forty seven countries voted for this proposal but the United States voted against. The two other states that voted against the resolution were Israel and the United States (both of which voted against in 2007), while as before China was absent for the vote, and Russia abstained. [21] And some of the forces were domestic both the Truman administration and the Eisenhower administration wanted to reign in military spending and avoid budget deficits and inflation. [16], Faced with a planned invasion of the Japanese home islands scheduled to begin on 1 November 1945 and with Japan not surrendering, President Harry S. Truman ordered the atomic raids on Japan. [27][28] The Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas, is the only location in the United States where weapons from the aging nuclear arsenal can be refurbished or dismantled. In 1946 after a long and protracted debate, the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 was passed, creating the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) as a civilian agency that would be in charge of the production of nuclear weapons and research facilities, funded through Congress, with oversight provided by the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy. The RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) is a ship-based surface-to-air missile system used by the United States Navy to intercept short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles as a part of Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. Louise Arbour, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia led a committee of staff lawyers to investigate possible treaty prohibitions against the use of DU in weapons. The plan included an initial plan to drop 1015 kiloton bombs on airfields in Amoy (now called Xiamen) in the event of a Chinese blockade against Taiwan's Offshore Islands. Fifty others were injured, many of them seriously. A number of groups of U.S. citizensespecially farmers and inhabitants of cities downwind of the Nevada Test Site and U.S. military workers at various testshave sued for compensation and recognition of their exposure, many successfully. When UF6 is exposed to water vapor in the air, it reacts with the moisture to produce UO2F2 (uranyl fluoride), a solid, and HF (hydrogen fluoride), a gas, both of which are highly soluble and toxic. In 1996, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) gave an advisory opinion on the "legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons". [148] The report mentions depleted uranium as one "potentially relevant exposure" but makes no conclusions on the source. "A Need for New Warheads?" [8], In 2009 and 2010, the administration of President Barack Obama declared policies that would invalidate the Bush-era policy for use of nuclear weapons and its motions to develop new ones. Depleted uranium is favored for the penetrator because it is self-sharpening[39] and flammable. The Business Journals features local business news from 40-plus cities across the nation. Storage cylinders must be regularly inspected for signs of corrosion and leaks. The numbers changed somewhat with medical records verification. Marshall's study concluded that the reports of cancer risks from DU exposure are not supported by his analysis nor by veteran medical statistics. [156], The Canadian Uranium Medical Research Centre obtained urine samples from bombed civilian areas in Jalalabad that showed concentrations of 80 to 400 nanograms per litre (5.6106 to 2.81105gr/impgal) of undepleted uranium, far higher than the typical concentration in the British population of 5 nanograms per litre (3.5107gr/impgal). [94][95] Also, a 2005 epidemiology review concluded: "In aggregate the human epidemiological evidence is consistent with increased risk of birth defects in offspring of persons exposed to DU. "[38], Between 16 July 1945 and 23 September 1992, the United States maintained a program of vigorous nuclear testing, with the exception of a moratorium between November 1958 and September 1961. The policy also renounces development of any new nuclear weapons. [79], The United States is one of the five recognized nuclear powers by the signatories of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). [citation needed] The US Navy used DU in its 20mm Phalanx CIWS guns, but switched in the late 1990s to armor-piercing tungsten. ABC News is your trusted source on political news stories and videos. Those in the seas consist of 14 nuclear-capable Ohio-class Trident submarines, nine in the Pacific and five in the Atlantic. Find latest news from every corner of the globe at Reuters.com, your online source for breaking international news coverage. [88][140][141][142] In 2004, Iraq had the highest mortality rate due to leukemia of any country. [35] On impact with a hard target, such as an armored vehicle, the nose of the rod fractures in such a way that it remains sharp. [35] When a DU penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle, it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew and possibly causing the vehicle to explode. [43] It has been claimed[by whom?] A medical survey, "Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 20052009" published in July 2010, states that the "increases in cancer and birth defectsare alarmingly high" and that infant mortality 2009/2010 has reached 13.6%. It includes the major sites related to the U.S. weapons program (past and present), their basic site functions, and their current status of activity. If the President has been killed, command authority follows the presidential line of succession. [65], In 1975, following the "energy crisis" of the early 1970s and public and congressional discontent with the AEC (in part because of the impossibility to be both a producer and a regulator), it was disassembled into component parts as the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), which assumed most of the AEC's former production, coordination, and research roles, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which assumed its civilian regulation activities.[66]. Each modified bomber could only carry one such weapon and only within a limited range. Four studies investigating links between the use of depleted uranium by Coalition forces during the Second Battle of Fallujah were conducted in 2012, one of which described the people of Fallujah as having "the highest rate of genetic damage in any population ever studied." We also provide tools to help businesses grow, network and hire. [172], There have been several accidents involving uranium hexafluoride in the United States. However, Dr. Kang and his colleagues concluded that the risk of birth defects in children of deployed male veterans still was about 2.2 times that of non-deployed veterans. [11] The use of DU in incendiary ammunition is controversial because of potential adverse health effects and its release into the environment.[84][85][86][87][88][89]. The less radioactive and non-fissile 238U constitutes the main component of depleted uranium. Rservez des vols pas chers sur easyJet.com vers les plus grandes villes d'Europe. In December 2010, 148 states supported a United Nations' General Assembly resolution calling for the states that use depleted uranium weapons in conflict to reveal where the weapons have been fired when asked to do so by the country upon whose territory they have been used. ", Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, "Teratogenicity of depleted uranium aerosols: A review from an epidemiological perspective", "The quantitative analysis of depleted uranium isotopes in British, Canadian, and U.S. Gulf War veterans", Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, "Incidence of cancer among UK Gulf War veterans: cohort study", "Depleted uranium and public health: Fifty years' study of occupational exposure provides little evidence of cancer", "Depleted uranium-catalyzed oxidative DNA damage: absence of significant alpha particle decay", "Royal Society warns of risks from depleted uranium", "Radiation dose from depleted uranium can now be measured", "Gulf war syndrome: There may be no specific syndrome, but troops suffer after most wars", "Health concerns in UK Armed Forces personnel", "No strong link between depleted uranium and cancer", "Enhancement of Natural Background Gamma-radiation Dose around Uranium Micro-particles in the Human Body", The health hazards of depleted uranium munitions: Part I, The health hazards of depleted uranium munitions: Part II, "Chromosome Aberration Analysis in Peripheral Lymphocytes of Gulf War and Balkans War Veterans", "Depleted uranium exposure and health effects in Gulf War veterans", "WHO should undertake full inquiry into Gulf war illness", "In vitro immune toxicity of depleted uranium: effects on murine macrophages, CD4+ T cells, and gene expression profiles", ATSDR Case Studies in Environmental Medicine (CSEM): Uranium Toxicity, "Depleted Uranium in Bosnia and Herzegovina Postconflict Assessment", "Radiological Conditions in Areas of Kuwait With Residues of Depleted Uranium", "Technical Report on Capacity-building for the Assessment of Depleted Uranium in Iraq", "A Review of the Scientific Literature As It Pertains to Gulf War Illnesses", Depleted uranium (DU) normative value pilot study: levels of uranium in urine samples from the general population, A normative study of levels of uranium in the urine of personnel in the British Forces, Opinion on the environmental and health risks posed by depleted uranium, Octamethylene-bis(5-dimethylcarbamoxyisoquinolinium bromide), 2-Ethoxycarbonyl-1-methylvinyl cyclohexyl methylphosphonate, Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future, Small sealed transportable autonomous (SSTAR), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Depleted_uranium&oldid=1120739694, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2015, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2018, Wikipedia articles in need of updating from August 2015, All Wikipedia articles in need of updating, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Elevated levels of protein excretion, urinary catalase and diuresis, Damage to Proximal convoluted tubules, necrotic cells cast from tubular epithelium, glomerular changes, Decreased performance on neurocognitive tests, Acute cholinergic toxicity; Dose-dependent accumulation in cortex, midbrain, and vermis; Electrophysiological changes in hippocampus, Increased urine mutagenicity and induction of tumors, Binucleated cells with micronuclei, Inhibition of cell cycle kinetics and proliferation; Sister chromatid induction, tumorigenic phenotype, Inhibition of periodontal bone formation; and alveolar wound healing, Uranium miners have more first born female children, Moderate to severe focal tubular atrophy; vacuolization of Leydig cells, Severe nasal congestion and hemorrhage, lung lesions and fibrosis, edema and swelling, lung cancer, Swollen vacuolated epidermal cells, damage to hair follicles and sebaceous glands, Tissues surrounding embedded DU fragments, Elevated uranium urine concentrations, perturbations in biochemical and neuropsychological testing, Chronic fatigue, rash, ear and eye infections, hair and weight loss, cough. [132][133] Looking at the risk of children of UK Gulf War veterans suffering genetic diseases such as congenital malformations, commonly called "birth defects", one study found that the overall risk of any malformation was 50% higher in Gulf War veterans as compared to other veterans. 07:21:19 Sam Nunn, William Perry, Henry Kissinger, and George Shultzhave called upon governments to embrace the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons, and in various op-ed columns have proposed an ambitious program of urgent steps to that end. The conclusions of the study show that brain damage from chronic uranium intoxication is possible at lower doses than previously thought. [98] Properties such as phase (e.g. Stone, Oliver and Kuznick, Peter, "The Untold History of the United States," (Gallery Books, 2012), pages 280281, Stone, Oliver and Kuznick, Peter "The Untold History of the United States" (Gallery Books, 2012), pages 28687, Stone, Oliver and Kuznick, Peter "The Untold History of the United States" (Gallery Books, 2012), page 309. Since World War II, the President of the United States has had sole authority to launch U.S. nuclear weapons, whether as a first strike or nuclear retaliation. [88] The Air Force is also retiring the nuclear cruise missiles of its B-52s, leaving only half nuclear-capable. Ramana and Frank N. von Hippel. "[62] The move followed a unanimous parliamentary vote on the issue on 22 March 2007. High concentration could cause kidney damage." The 2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S. was done, in part, on indications that Weapons of mass destruction were being stockpiled (later, stockpiles of previously undeclared nerve agent and mustard gas shells were located in Iraq),[71] and the Bush administration said that its policies on proliferation were responsible for the Libyan government's agreement to abandon its nuclear ambitions.[72]. [3] The only known natural source of uranium with a 235U content significantly different from 0.72% is found in the natural nuclear fission reactor at Oklo, Gabon. They generally operated their sites through contractors, however, both private and public (for example, Union Carbide, a private company, ran Oak Ridge National Laboratory for many decades; the University of California, a public educational institution, has run the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore laboratories since their inception, and will jointly manage Los Alamos with the private company Bechtel as of its next contract). How close any of these accidents came to being major nuclear disasters is a matter of technical and scholarly debate and interpretation. DU is about 60% as radioactive as natural uranium. [33], Depleted uranium is very dense; at 19,050kg/m3, it is 1.67 times as dense as lead, only slightly less dense than tungsten and gold, and 84% as dense as osmium or iridium, which are the densest known substances under standard (i.e., Earth-surface) pressures. "[137], One particular subgroup of veterans that may be at higher risk comprises those who have internally retained fragments of DU from shrapnel wounds. Deployed and Non-deployed Launchers of SLBMs, and Deployed and Non-deployed Heavy Bombers, International relations and nuclear weapons, United States strategic nuclear weapons arsenal. A laboratory study on rats produced by the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute showed that, after a study period of 6 months, rats treated with depleted uranium coming from implanted pellets, comparable to the average levels in the urine of Desert Storm veterans with retained DU fragments, had developed a significant tendency to lose weight with respect to the control group. [91][92] International Day of Nuclear Disarmament protests were held on 20 June 1983 at 50 sites across the United States. Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope 235U than natural uranium. [136], Though a more comprehensive assessment is possible, a 2011 update on a cancer scare regarding Italian soldiers who had served in the Balkans found lower than expected incidence rates for all cancers, a finding "consistent with lacking evidence of an increased cancer incidence among troops of other countries deployed in the areas of Iraq, Bosnia, and Kosovo, where armour-penetrating depleted uranium shells have been used. Release of the hydrogen fluoride gas to the atmosphere is also slowed by the plug formation. [18], On 15 August 1947, the Manhattan Project was abolished. Each cylinder holds up to 12.7 tonnes (14.0 short tons) of UF6. [76][77], The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP) began on 31 July 2001. Reuters.com is your online source for the latest world news stories and current events, ensuring our readers up to date with any breaking news developments A few years after the USSR detonated its first weapon in 1949, though, the U.S. under President Dwight D. Eisenhower sought to encourage a program of sharing nuclear information related to civilian nuclear power and nuclear physics in general. ", "NATO Press Conference on Depleted Uranium", Military medical aspects of depleted uranium munitions, An Analysis of Uranium Dispersal and Health Effects Using a Gulf War Case Study, "Under the radar: identifying third-generation uranium weapons", "Metal Contamination and the Epidemic of Congenital Birth Defects in Iraqi Cities", "Toxicological assessments of Gulf War veterans", Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, "Gulf war symptoms do not constitute a syndrome", "Clinical findings for the first 1000 Gulf war veterans in the Ministry of Defence's medical assessment programme", "Depleted and natural uranium: chemistry and toxicological effects", "Biological Monitoring for Depleted Uranium Exposure in U.S. Veterans", "Miscarriage, stillbirth and congenital malformation in the offspring of UK veterans of the first Gulf war", "Screening for depleted uranium in the United Kingdom armed forces: who wants it and why? [81] It is weakly radioactive but is 'persistently' so because of its long half-life. The development of submarine-launched ballistic missile systems allowed for hidden nuclear submarines to covertly launch missiles at distant targets as well, making it virtually impossible for the Soviet Union to successfully launch a first strike attack against the United States without receiving a deadly response. Each cylinder contains up to 12.7 tonnes (or 14 US tons) of UF6. Iversen, Chalder & Wessely 2007 notes that "despite clear evidence of an increase in symptom burden and a decrease in well being" among Gulf War veterans, "exhaustive clinical and laboratory based scientific research has failed to document many reproducible biomedical abnormalities in this group. [69], After India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons in 1998, President Bill Clinton imposed economic sanctions on the countries. "Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) defines depleted uranium as uranium with a percentage of the 235U isotope that is less than 0.711% by weight (see 10 CFR 40.4). 25mm DU rounds have been used in the M242 gun mounted on the U.S. Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle and the Marine Corps's LAV-25. [40] 782,414 DU rounds were fired during the 1991 war in Iraq, mostly by US forces. [102], On 1 May 2005, 40,000 anti-nuclear/anti-war protesters marched past the United Nations in New York, 60 years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [22] It was the perception that nuclear weapons gave more "bang for the buck" and thus were the most cost-efficient way to respond to the security threat the Soviet Union represented. Additional developments in weapons delivery included cruise missile systems, which allowed a plane to fire a long-distance, low-flying nuclear-armed missile towards a target from a relatively comfortable distance. [26], By 1990, the United States had produced more than 70,000 nuclear warheads, in over 65 different varieties, ranging in yield from around .01 kilotons (such as the man-portable Davy Crockett shell) to the 25 megaton B41 bomb. The researchers say that the most likely remaining causes for GWI are widespread low-level exposure to sarin nerve gas released by the destruction of Iraqi chemical weapons storage facilities in January 1991. [45], The President can give a nuclear launch order using their nuclear briefcase (nicknamed the nuclear football), or can use command centers such as the White House Situation Room. [109] Uranyl ion contamination in uranium oxides has been detected in the residue of DU munitions fires.[110][111]. This arrangement was seen as necessary during the Cold War to present a credible nuclear deterrent; if an attack was detected, the United States would have only minutes to launch a counterstrike before its nuclear capability was severely damaged, or national leaders killed. Three days later, on 9 August, the U.S. attacked Nagasaki using a plutonium implosion-design bomb, Fat Man, with the explosion equivalent to about 20 kilotons of TNT, destroying 60% of the city and killing approximately 35,000 people, among them 23,20028,200 Japanese munitions workers, 2,000 Korean slave laborers, and 150 Japanese combatants. Several studies using cultured cells and laboratory rodents suggest the possibility of leukemogenic, genetic, reproductive, and neurological effects from chronic exposure. ", "How the U.S. betrayed the Marshall Islands, kindling the next nuclear disaster", "The 'Atomic Marines' of America's botched Bikini Atoll nuclear test demand justice", "Welcome to 'the Most Toxic Place in America', "Nation's most ambitious project to clean up nuclear weapons waste has stalled at Hanford", "Inside America's most toxic nuclear waste dump, where 56 million gallons of buried radioactive sludge are leaking into the earth", Threat Assessment: U.S. Nuclear Plants Near Airports May Be at Risk of Airplane Attack, Averting Catastrophe: Why the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty is Losing its Deterrence Capacity and How to Restore It, "Legal Experts: Stuxnet Attack on Iran Was Illegal 'Act of Force', "Henry DeWolf Smyth Papers Collection Overview 18851987", "The Atomic Energy Commissions (AEC), 1947", "The Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)", "United States Secretly Deployed Nuclear Bombs in 27 Countries and Territories During Cold War", "President Bush: Libya Pledges to Dismantle WMD Programs", National Archives and Records Administration, "Legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons", "United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination, 27 April to 22 May 2015", "Air Force Histories Released through Archive Lawsuit Show Cautious Presidents Overruling Air Force Plans for Early Use of Nuclear Weapons", "US Air Force planned nuclear strike on China over Taiwan: report", "Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation (DEEOIC)", "Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) EEOICP Program Statistics", "Obama sets goal of world without nuclear weapons", "U.S., Russia Agree To Pursue Nuclear Reduction", "Obama, Medvedev sign treaty to reduce nuclear weapons", "Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms", U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues, "Department of the Air Force awards contract for new ICBM system that enhances, strengthens US triad", "US Navy inks $9.4B contract for two Columbia-class nuclear missile submarines", "Raytheon wins $2B contract for new nuclear cruise missile", "Disarmament movement lessons from yesteryear", "1982 a million people march in New York City", 438 Protesters are Arrested at Nevada Nuclear Test Site, Stop the Bombs! The biochemistry of depleted uranium is the same as natural uranium. [115], The Royal Society Working Group on the Health Hazards of Depleted Uranium Munitions (RSDUWG) concluded in 2002 that there were "very low" health risks associated with the use of depleted uranium, though it also ventured that, "[i]n extreme conditions and under worst-case assumptions" lung and kidney damage could occur, and that in "worst-case scenarios high local levels of uranium could occur in food or water that could have adverse effects on the kidney". For instance, some late-production M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams tanks built after 1998 have DU modules integrated into their Chobham armor, as part of the armor plating in the front of the hull and the front of the turret, and there is a program to upgrade the rest. "[165] Pier Roberto Danesi, then-director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Seibersdorf +Laboratory, stated in 2002 that "There is a consensus now that DU does not represent a health threat". Uranium is pyrophoric when finely divided. In general, these agencies served to coordinate research and build sites. [83] When depleted uranium munitions penetrate armor or burn, they create depleted uranium oxides in the form of dust that can be inhaled or contaminate wounds. Agreement states may have similar, or more stringent, regulations. The Cooperative Threat Reduction program of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was established after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 to aid former Soviet bloc countries in the inventory and destruction of their sites for developing nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, and their methods of delivering them (ICBM silos, long-range bombers, etc.). [19], The American atomic stockpile was small and grew slowly in the immediate aftermath of World War II, and the size of that stockpile was a closely guarded secret. Find the latest business news on Wall Street, jobs and the economy, the housing market, personal finance and money investments and much more on ABC News History. After World War II, the MED maintained control over the U.S. arsenal and production facilities and coordinated the Operation Crossroads tests. In June 1941, the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was established, with the NDRC as one of its subordinate agencies, which enlarged and renamed the Uranium Committee as the Section on Uranium. The Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the United Nations Human Rights Commission,[44] passed two motions[45]the first in 1996[46] and the second in 1997. [82][83] That same week Obama also revised U.S. policy on the use of nuclear weapons in a Nuclear Posture Review required of all presidents, declaring for the first time that the U.S. would not use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear, NPT-compliant states. [43] This made it clear, in paragraphs 54, 55 and 56, that international law on poisonous weaponsthe Second Hague Declaration of 29 July 1899, Hague Convention IV of 18 October 1907 and the Geneva Protocol of 17 June 1925did not cover nuclear weapons, because their prime or exclusive use was not to poison or asphyxiate. [9], In the 2013 book Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (Oxford), Kate Brown explores the health of affected citizens in the United States, and the "slow-motion disasters" that still threaten the environments where the plants are located. ", "What happens if a cylinder of uranium hexafluoride leaks? When the number of cancer cases in the vicinity of the accident rose disproportionately in the years after, suspicion rose that the depleted uranium ballast in the jet may have been the cause. This is because uranium-238 decays directly to thorium-234, which with a half-life of 24 days decays to protactinium-234, which in turn decays in a matter of hours to the long-lived uranium-234. The Sydney Morning Herald, Tuesday, Dec. 4, 1973, Campaign Against Depleted Uranium (Spring, 2004). Another use of depleted uranium is in kinetic energy penetrators, anti-armor rounds such as the 120mm sabot rounds fired from the British Challenger 1, Challenger 2,[37] M1A1 and M1A2 Abrams. Sky News is unable to independently verify these claims. [61], On 21 June 2009, Belgium became the first country in the world to ban: "inert ammunition and armour that contains depleted uranium or any other industrially manufactured uranium. [77] The benefit is that, because of the very high density of uranium, the keel could be thinner for a given weight, and so have less resistance than a normal keel. He argues that the use of DU in weapons, along with the other weapons listed by the SubCommission, may breach one or more of the following treaties: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Charter of the United Nations, the Genocide Convention, the United Nations Convention Against Torture, the Geneva Conventions including Protocol I, the Convention on Conventional Weapons of 1980, and the Chemical Weapons Convention. [64], In September 2009, the Latin American Parliament passed a resolution calling for a regional moratorium on the use, production and procurement of uranium weapons. It produced plutonium for use in cold war atomic bombs. [108] Violently burning uranium droplets produce a gaseous vapor comprising about half of the uranium in their original mass. Latest news from around the globe, including the nuclear arms race, migration, North Korea, Brexit and more. As early as 1997, British Army doctors warned the Ministry of Defence that exposure to depleted uranium increased the risk of developing lung, lymph and brain cancer, and recommended a series of safety precautions. [50] The populations of the islands were evacuated but not before suffering radiation burns. Weapons news. After these initial weapons were developed, a considerable amount of money and research was conducted towards the goal of standardizing nuclear warheads so that they did not require highly specialized experts to assemble them before use, as in the case with the idiosyncratic wartime devices, and miniaturization of the warheads for use in more variable delivery systems. [12] A 2005 epidemiology review concluded: "In aggregate the human epidemiological evidence is consistent with increased risk of birth defects in offspring of persons exposed to DU. Trouvez aussi des offres spciales sur votre htel, votre location de voiture et votre assurance voyage. [17], On 1 January 1947, the Atomic Energy Act of 1946 (known as the McMahon Act) took effect, and the Manhattan Project was officially turned over to the United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). [57], In 2007, France, Britain, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic voted against a United Nations General Assembly resolution to hold a debate in 2009 about the effects of the use of armaments and ammunitions containing depleted uranium. New START Treaty Aggregate Numbers of Strategic Offensive Arms, 1 March 2019[106], and Nuclear Warheads Counted for Deployed Heavy Bombers. Later in the decade, France and the Soviet Union began their nuclear weapons and nuclear power programs. On 6 August 1945, the U.S. detonated a uranium-gun design bomb, Little Boy, over the Japanese city of Hiroshima with an energy of about 15 kilotons of TNT, killing approximately 70,000 people, among them 20,000 Japanese combatants and 20,000 Korean slave laborers, and destroying nearly 50,000 buildings (including the 2nd General Army and Fifth Division headquarters). The hazard from depleted uranium is both very limited, and limited to very specific circumstances". [30], There have been several accidents involving uranium hexafluoride in the United States, including one in which 32 workers were exposed to a cloud of UF6 and its reaction products in 1986 at a Gore, Oklahoma, commercial uranium conversion facility. [46], In 1975, a launch crew member, Harold Hering, was dismissed from the Air Force for asking how he could know whether the order to launch his missiles came from a sane president. [75], About 95% of the depleted uranium produced until now is stored as uranium hexafluoride, (D)UF6, in steel cylinders in open air yards close to enrichment plants. [27], During the presidency of George W. Bush, and especially after the 11 September terrorist attacks of 2001, rumors circulated in major news sources that the U.S. was considering designing new nuclear weapons ("bunker-busting nukes") and resuming nuclear testing for reasons of stockpile stewardship. [9] It is only weakly radioactive because of the long radioactive half-life of 238U (4.468 109 or 4,468,000,000 years) and the low amounts of 234U (half-life about 246,000 years) and 235U (half-life 700 million years). This ICJ opinion was about nuclear weapons, but the sentence "The terms have been understood, in the practice of States, in their ordinary sense as covering weapons whose prime, or even exclusive, effect is to poison or asphyxiate," also removes depleted uranium weaponry from coverage by the same treaties as their primary use is not to poison or asphyxiate, but to destroy materiel and kill soldiers through kinetic energy. Military uses include armor plating and armor-piercing projectiles. Some scientists and engineers have opposed nuclear weapons, including Paul M. Doty, Hermann Joseph Muller, Linus Pauling, Eugene Rabinowitch, M.V. Though fear of a nuclear arms race spurred many politicians and scientists to advocate some degree of international control or sharing of nuclear weapons and information, many politicians and members of the military believed that it was better in the short term to maintain high standards of nuclear secrecy and to forestall a Soviet bomb as long as possible (and they did not believe the USSR would actually submit to international controls in good faith). In 1946, the Convair B-36 Peacemaker became the first purpose-built nuclear bomber; it served with the USAF until 1959. Early on in the development of its nuclear weapons, the United States relied in part on information-sharing with both the United Kingdom and Canada, as codified in the Quebec Agreement of 1943. Even today, as pollution threats to health and the environment persist, the government keeps knowledge about the associated risks from the public. [90] Militaries have long had risk-reduction procedures for their troops to follow,[91] and studies are in consistent agreement that veterans who used DU-enhanced munitions have not suffered, so far, from an increased risk of cancer (see the Gulf War and Balkans sections below). The legality or illegality of DU weapons must therefore be tested by recourse to the general rules governing the use of weapons under humanitarian and human rights law which have already been analysed in Part I of this paper, and more particularly at paragraph 35 which states that parties to Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 have an obligation to ascertain that new weapons do not violate the laws and customs of war or any other international law. [155], Depleted uranium has been named as a possible contributing factor to a high incidence of birth defects and cancer near the Salto di Quirra weapons testing range on the Italian island of Sardinia. 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Accidents came to being major nuclear disasters is a matter of technical and scholarly debate and interpretation politics! And humanitarian norms, of the hydrogen fluoride gas to the.gov website latest news from 40-plus cities the. 62 ] the report mentions depleted uranium as one `` potentially relevant exposure '' but makes conclusions... This proposal but the United States depleted UF6 to solid uranium oxides for in... Or more stringent, regulations linked to adverse health effects of DU is also retiring the nuclear triad as,. Finalized in January 1947 generate depleted uranium found in the United States voted.! But makes no conclusions on the countries produce a gaseous vapor comprising about half the. Leaking from Hanford into the environment if the aircraft crashes to address the from... Fragments or shrapnel contamination of any new nuclear weapons under similar circumstance actual level of acute and toxicity. 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