International Action Organization

REMs of Depleted Uranium in Specific US Munitions

Grams to REM equivalencies based on dissolved DU exposure to human body. These are potential REM exposure upon contact with DU weapon, dust or ground water contamination.

The Occupational Dose Limits for DU is 5 rems a year.  For deep-dose exposure to any single organ the limit is 50 rems a year.  As InterAct shows, each munition exceeds the deep-dose limit by the hundreds, if not thousands.  Given the prevalence of DU on the battle field, we can assume that civilians and troops are exposed to both total dose and deep-dose.

20mm MK149: 70 grams - .15lbs.

   70 grams of DU = 504.7 rem/yr

            If only 40% of the DU round is aerolized, the dose is still 201.88rem/year

25mm PGU-20: 148 grams - .32lbs.

    148 grams of DU = 1067.08 rem/yr

            If only 40% of the DU round is aerolized, the dose is still 426.83rem/year

25mm M919: 97 grams - .21lbs.

    97 grams of DU = 699.37 rem/yr

            If only 40% of the DU round is aerolized, the dose is still 279.75rem/year

30mm PGU-14: 298 grams - .66lbs.

    298 grams of DU = 2148.58 rem/yr

            If only 40% of the DU round is aerolized, the dose is still 859.43rem/year

105mm M774: 3364 grams - 7.41lbs.

    3364 grams DU = 24254.44 rem/yr

            If only 40% of the DU round is aerolized, the dose is still 9701.78rem/year

105mm M833: 3668 grams - 8.08lbs

    3668 grams DU = 26446.28 rem/yr (http://www.ngwrc.org/Dulink/du_link.htm#Training)

            If only 40% of the DU round is aerolized, the dose is still 10578.51rem/year

120 mm tank round contains about 4000 grams or 10 pounds of solid DU (http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/background/du.html, accessed August 11, 2003)

    4000 grams DU = 28840 rem/yr

            If only 40% of the DU round is aerolized, the dose is still 11536rem/year

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