The big waste disposal problem in the energy business does not stem from nuclear wastes, which are tiny in volume, completely removable from the biosphere, and only temporarily toxic (after 600 years they will have decayed below the level of the ore that they originally came from). The real problem is coal wastes - a single 1,000 MW power plant produces 30 lbs of solid wastes second after second after second, and landfill space is already getting tight in many places. Coal ash contains carcinogens, mutagens and chemical toxins that will not be toxic for 600 or 6,000 years, but forever and a day.
And that is not the only headache. Scrubbing the flue gases to remove sulfur dioxide has introduced a new pollutant lime sludge, a goo of toothpaste like consistency. Over the next 20 years there will be enough of it to cover 240,000 acres 5 ft deep. Where will all these goodies go?
Count your blessings: The first is that there is no organization of loafing misfits dedicated to panicking about coal wastes; since these misfits are not interested in health or safety, but only in making all abundant forms of energy unavailable, they naturally go first against the most manageable kind of wastes.
The second is that scientists and engineers are working on this vast and difficult problem, though as yet no comprehensive solution has been found. But one of the more imaginative projects is being worked on by New York State ERDA and the Marine Science Research Center at SUNY Stony Brook. A Philadelphia company has patented a process to convert scrubber sludge, fly ash and bottom ash into a stable, cement like material, and this is to be used for constructing mini reefs at the bottom of the sea to attract marine life.
Nothing simpler, one would think, but there are problems. Will the sea water leach out the toxic metals and other contaminants from the blocks? (Yes, but probably not at dangerously high rates, so that the toxins have time to diffuse into the sea.) What would these toxins do to the marine environment? (They inhibit the growth rate of test algae, but only if the leaching rate is very high.)
These and many other tests were performed by MSRC scientists, and the results warranted further, on site experiments. A mini reef of coal waste blocks was constructed in May 1977 in Conscience Bay, Long Island, with plenty of nooks and crannies for colonization by small organisms which in turn, attract fish to the site. At the same time, a second mini reef of cement blocks enables scientists to compare the suitability of coal waste blocks with a material already proven viable for use in artificial reefs.
[More: NYSERDA Review, no.S, October 1977.]
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Vol. 6, No. 1
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Volume 6 Issue/No.: Vol. 6, No. 1 Date: September 01, 1978 03:48 PM Title: The Pacifist Warmongers
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