Demonstration of Jackhammer Incorporating Depleted Uranium.

[摘要] The United States government currently has an abundance of depleted uranium (DU). This surplus of about 1 billion pounds is the result of an enrichment process using gaseous diffusion to produce enriched and depleted uranium. The enriched uranium has been used primarily for either nuclear weapons for the military or nuclear for the commercial power industry. Most of the depleted uranium remains at the enrichment process plants in the form of depleted uranium hexafluoride. The Department of Energy (DOE) recently began a study to identify possible commercial applications for the surplus material. One of the potential applications is to use the DU in high-density strikers/hammers in pneumatically driven tools, such as jack hammers and piledrivers to improve their impulse performance. The use of DU could potentially increase tunneling velocity and excavation into target materials with improved efficiency.

[发布机构] Technical Information Center Oak Ridge Tennessee

[学科分类] 工程和技术（综合）

[关键词] Depleted uranium;Tools;Uranium hexafluoride;Nuclear fuels;Nuclear weapons