Depleted Uranium
	Uranium Enrichment    Depleted Uranium Health Effects

Depleted Uranium

Depleted uranium is uranium that has had some of its U-235 content removed.

Over the last four decades, large quantities of uranium were processed by gaseous diffusion to produce uranium having a higher concentration of uranium-235 than the 0.72% that occurs naturally (called "enriched" uranium) for use in U.S. national defense and civilian applications. "Depleted" uranium is also a product of the enrichment process. However, depleted uranium has been stripped of some of its natural uranium-235 content. Most of the Department of Energy's (DOE) depleted uranium inventory contains between 0.2 to 0.4 weight-percent uranium-235, well below levels necessary to create a nuclear chain reaction.

Depleted UF₆

Any uranium compound (e.g., UF₆, UF₄, U₃O₈) can contain "enriched" or "depleted" uranium. Because the enrichment process used in the United States utilizes uranium hexafluoride (UF₆), the depleted uranium product produced is depleted uranium hexafluoride (depleted UF₆). Management of DOE's inventory of depleted UF₆ is the responsibility of the DUF₆ Management Program.

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