Heat of fire DU ammunition to oxidize.

In the event of a vehicular fire, the heat of the fire can cause any onboard DU ammunition to oxidize.

Iraq and Kuwait -- DU was extensively used by the US forces during the Gulf War. Apparently this is the only conflict where large DU projectiles were fired from tanks. The Air Force fired 783,514 rounds of 30 mm DU ammunition corresponding to 259 tons of DU (DoAF, 1997).

The Army fired 9,552 DU tank rounds, corresponding to approximately 50 tons of DU and the Marine aviation expended DU ammunition corresponding to about 11 tons of DU. The United Kingdom is the only other country known to have fired DU munitions during this conflict. The UK Ministry of Defense estimates that its tanks fired less than one hundred 120 mm DU rounds, corresponding to about one ton of DU.

The total adds up to 321 tons of DU.