Editing Depleted uranium (section)

==History==
Enriched uranium was first manufactured in the early 1940s when the [[United States]] and Great [[United Kingdom|Britain]] began their [[nuclear weapons]] programs. Later in the decade, [[France]] and the [[Soviet Union]] began their [[nuclear weapon]]s and [[nuclear power]] programs. Depleted uranium was originally stored as an unusable waste product ([[uranium hexafluoride]]) in the hope that improved [[uranium enrichment|enrichment processes]] could extract additional quantities of the [[Nuclear fission|fissionable]] <sup>235</sup>U [[isotope]]. This re-enrichment recovery of the residual uranium-235 is now in practice in some parts of the world; e.g. in 1996 over 6000 metric tonnes were upgraded in a Russian plant.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url= http://www.wise-uranium.org/dhap991.html
 |title= Depleted Uranium: A By-product of the Nuclear Chain
 |author= Diehl, Peter
 |year= 1999
 |publisher= International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation
 |url-status= dead
 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20130113114319/http://www.wise-uranium.org/dhap991.html
 |archive-date= 13 January 2013 }}</ref>

In the 1970s, [[the Pentagon]] reported that the [[Soviet Armed Forces|Soviet military]] had developed [[armor plating]] for [[Warsaw Pact]] tanks that [[North Atlantic Treaty Organization|NATO]] ammunition could not penetrate.{{Citation needed|date=April 2015}} The Pentagon began searching for material to make denser [[armour-piercing ammunition|armor-piercing projectiles]]. After testing various metals, [[Ordnance ammunition|ordnance]] researchers settled on depleted uranium.{{fact|date=January 2022}}

The US and NATO militaries used DU penetrator rounds in the [[1991 Gulf War]], the [[Bosnia war]],<ref>{{cite web
 |url= http://cancerpage.com/cancernews/cancernews2268.htm |url-status=dead
 |title= NATO: 50 Countries See No Depleted Uranium Illness
 |access-date=12 December 2013
|author= Hamilton, Douglas
 |date= 25 January 2001
|publisher= Reuters Health Information
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010220235753/http://www.cancerpage.com/cancernews/cancernews2268.htm
 |archive-date = 20 February 2001}}</ref> [[Operation Allied Force|bombing of Serbia]], the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]],<ref>{{cite news
 |url= http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0812-06.htm |url-status=dead
 |title= Is an Armament Sickening U.S. Soldiers?
 |access-date=30 March 2015
|author= Hastings, Deborah
 |date= 12 August 2006
|agency= Associated Press
 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140703032800/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0812-06.htm
 |archive-date= 3 July 2014
}}</ref> and [[Operation Tidal Wave II|2015 airstrikes]] on [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|ISIS]] in Syria.<ref name="Oakford2017">{{cite web|last1=Oakford|first1=Samuel|title=The United States Used Depleted Uranium in Syria|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/02/14/the-united-states-used-depleted-uranium-in-syria/|website=Foreign Policy|date=14 February 2017|access-date=3 March 2017}}</ref> It is estimated that between 315 and 350 tons of DU were used in the 1991 Gulf War.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Depleted Uranium and What It Is Used For|url=http://www.energysolutions.com/depleted-uranium/history/|publisher=Energy Solutions|access-date=7 August 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721043007/http://www.energysolutions.com/depleted-uranium/history/|archive-date=21 July 2015}}</ref>