The Pentagon weaponized its nuclear waste to avoid disposal costs

Evidence

What accounts for depleted uranium’s sudden surge in military popularity? As a by-product of nuclear testing and nuclear power, depleted uranium is extremely cheap—indeed, better than free. A half century of nuclear-weapons and nuclear-power production has left the Department of Defense with more than a billion pounds of nuclear waste in storage. The Department of Defense is delighted to off-load some of that waste onto arms manufacturers, gratis, in the form of depleted uranium. The result is a seductive kind of alchemy: weapons manufacturers magically cut their production costs while the Defense Department magically rids itself of a five-alarm waste product that no American wants buried in their backyard. The result is a kind of antienvironmental recycling that converts highly toxic waste into even more deadly explosive forms. — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 628

Categorization

• XREF: ‘Antienvironmental recycling’ connects to ch.8’s claim that corporations externalize risks onto the poor global South — here extended to radioactive risk externalized as weapons. — connects to: Depleted uranium weapons export nuclear waste including unfindable plutonium traces abroad — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 629
• CANDY: Depleted uranium is better-than-free: the Pentagon pays nothing to offload its billion-pound nuclear waste by converting it into weapons — antienvironmental recycling.

Broader Connections

• Depleted uranium weapons export nuclear waste including unfindable plutonium traces abroad #expands (0.85) — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 629