The Controversy Surrounding Depleted Uranium Weapons.

Britain plans to supply Ukraine with armour piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to help destroy Russian tanks. Depleted uranium is a dense by-product left over when uranium is enriched for use in nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. It is used in weapons because it is so dense, it self-ignites at high temperatures and pressures, and because it becomes sharper as it penetrates armour plating. There has been much study of - and controversy about - the effects of exposure to depleted uranium weapons, especially in the battlefields where such munitions were used in the 1990-1991 Gulf War and in the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.