This Technical Brief is intended to help the user understand the characteristics, behavior in the environment, and potential human health risks of DU as a contaminant in soils and groundwater. The document also identifies available monitoring and measurement tools and various treatment technologies for remediation of sites contaminated with DU. Supplementary discussions and additional information are provided in the appendices. This Technical Brief specifically addresses DU in an environmental contamination setting and specifically does not consider airborne DU micro-particulates of the type associated with DU munitions. Further, it considers only contamination scenarios in the United States, though it has used international scientific data, where appropriate, for its technical basis. In these environmental contamination settings, the major risk from DU is toxicological rather than radiological, and chemical toxicity is the major driver for site cleanup.

"EPA-402-R-06-011." "December 2006." Title from title screen (viewed on June 5, 2008). Includes bibliographical references.

Purpose -- Introduction -- Characteristics of uranium and depleted uranium -- Health concerns -- Exposure pathways -- Chemical risk -- Radiological risk -- Uranium in the environment -- Occurrence -- Geochemistry -- Mobility -- Enhanced mobility -- Fate and transport of depleted uranium -- Fate in soil -- Fate in water -- Fate in air -- Fate in biota -- Partition coefficients -- Fate and transport modeling -- Site screening for depleted uranium contamination -- Measurement tools and monitoring techniques -- Remediation technologies -- Soil technologies -- Physical separation -- Chemical extraction -- Groundwater technologies -- Pump and treat -- Permeable reactive barriers -- Commercial test studies -- Technologies for soil and water -- In-situ stabilization/treatment -- Phytoremediation -- Monitored natural attenuation -- EPA standards applicable to depleted uranium sites -- For soil -- For air -- For water -- Storage of depleted uranium -- For disposal --Acronyms -- Glossary -- Additional sources of information -- Appendix 1: Technical background on uranium and depleted uranium -- Appendix 2: Measurement tools and monitoring techniques -- Appendix 3: National Priorities List (NPL) sites that have or may have DU contamination -- Appendix 4: Depleted uranium manufacturing and testing facilities -- Appendix 5: Case study - Nuclear Metals, Inc. (NMI) site, Concord, Massachusetts -- Appendix 6: Case study - Maxey Flats Nuclear Disposal Site, Hillsboro, Kentucky -- Appendix 7: Treatment defined by NCP. This technical brief was developed to address the common misconception that depleted uranium represents only a radiological health hazard. It provides accepted data and references to additional sources for both the radiological and chemical characteristics, health risk as well as references for both the monitoring and measurement and applicable treatment techniques for depleted uranium