I read that an awful lot of it was fired into Iraq by the US in the last 'war' there, and will be causing birth defects there for a long time. I don't think someone reading the calm sentence Depleted uranium is still used in military large-caliber bullets would have any idea of the horrifying reality.
(Depleted) Uranium is a pyrophoric material - it spontaneously ignites in the right conditions (e.g. when it's shot at a tank and penetrates it), making a better job of killing said tank's occupants. This causes it to vaporize, and can now be breathed in - the exact set of circumstances where its nature of alpha emitter is dangerous for health.
While this is horrific, and I hope it stops, please keep in mind that any other use case which doesn't involve burning it or aerosolizing it creates no health hazard - you can build glassware with a high U content and drink from it.
any other use case which doesn't involve burning it or aerosolizing it creates no health hazard
That doesn't sound quite right:
"Normal functioning of the kidney, brain, liver, heart, and other systems can be affected by uranium exposure, because, besides being weakly radioactive, uranium is a toxic metal. Uranium is also a reproductive toxicant. ...Uranium metal is commonly handled with gloves..."
However, U238 is simply not fissile in the absence of lots of high-energy neutrons. It's merely fertile, much like thorium. Here's a picture of thorium stored in the U.S.: https://energyfromthorium.com/2006/07/07/how-to-throw-away-e...
Depleted uranium is still used in military large-caliber bullets, and the M1A1 tank uses depleted uranium armor, probably an inch or two thick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chobham_armour#Heavy_metal_mod...
Some large civilian aircraft have used over a ton of depleted uranium as trim weights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Trim_weights_...