[Colonel Flagg]

Wouldn't it have been funny if at the end of the chain was a barrel that they just kept throwing the stuff in.

As the Germans never were able to sufficiently purify natural uranium to make it "bomb grade", my guess was that this was non-enriched uranium, and that apart from getting a little hot, it probably wouldn't have hurt the soldiers too much. I'd guesstimate no more than a years worth of a pack-a-day habit. Maybe.

Nowadays, they'd be in full-on HAZMAT body suits.