Hungary: Toxic Waste Bursts From Tailings Pond - Threatens Ecological Disaster on Danube

[C. Flower]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/06/toxic-sludge-hungary-danube

Terrible industrial accident in Hungary - with a massive spill of contaminated sludge from an aluminum plant tailings pond.

There are a number of tailings ponds in Ireland, including one at the Galmoy mines, close to the River Nore in North Kilkenny. Can we hope that they are properly inspected and maintained, particularly after the mines have closed?



Hungary declared a state of emergency in three counties yesterday after a dam burst at an alumina plant in Ajka, releasing a torrent of toxic red sludge that swept through local villages. Four people were killed, three reported missing and 120 were injured.

Disaster crews were today expected to reopen the streets of Kolontar, the town nearest the plant, to allow residents to return for some of their belongings. The military put up a pontoon across a toxic stream so residents could reach the town, while bulldozers cleared away rubble.

"I'm waiting to finally be able to return to my house, but I don't think I'll ever move back here," an affected resident, Balazs Holczer, 35, told Reuters. "My wife and my son were trapped inside the house during the spill. She put him on top of a cabinet, and she was seriously burned from the waist down ... they are both in hospital, my son is still in a shock. He says he doesn't ever want to come back because he feels safe in the hospital."

Gyorgy Bakondi, the head of the national disaster unit, told Hungarian television that emergency workers were expected to close the break in the reservoir today. He said crews were also clearing the red sludge from the walls of houses as well as the streets.

"The third key thing is the protection of waters," he said. "This requires a very intensive intervention."

MAL Zrt, which owns the plant, has insisted that, according to EU standards, the sludge is not considered hazardous waste. The company has also rejected criticism that it should have taken more precautions to shore up the reservoir, which is more than 450 metres long and 300 metres across.




YouTube - Dam Burst Causes Toxic Sludge To Flood Hungary

[Newsy]

according to EU standards, the sludge is not considered hazardous waste

I would really like to know, WHAT this statement means, EXACTLY.

If this material is not hazardous, why were some people suffering burns and eye irritations? And these are short-term.....what of long-term affects!!!!

There is very little information as to what EXACTLY is contained in this 'sludge'!!!

This situation is truly very troubling.

[C. Flower]

I would really like to know, WHAT this statement means, EXACTLY.

If this material is not hazardous, why were some people suffering burns and eye irritations? And these are short-term.....what of long-term affects!!!!

There is very little information as to what EXACTLY is contained in this 'sludge'!!!

This situation is truly very troubling.

We have some pretty nasty stuff in tailings ponds ourselves, with heavy metals in them.

One village has been "written off" and the sludge is expected to reach the Danube next week.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/village-a-write-off-after-toxic-sludge-spill-476744.html

[C. Flower]

Has reached the Danube already -

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/toxic-sludge-lead-reaches-danube-476755.html

[Christy Walsh]

An official in Hungary says a toxic sludge spill, which has killed four people, has reached the edge of Europe's second longest river, the Danube.

Officials say the sludge has reached the Danube, one of Europe's longest rivers. An official also told reporters the toxic spill has wiped out the entire ecosystem of the small River Marcul, which was first contaminated.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban visited one of the villages hit by the toxic sludge. He described the spill as a "serious ecological catastrophe".

"What I have seen is terrible, simply terrible," Orban said. "This is the first, and probably the most ever (that is) happened, this kind of ecological tragedy that has ever happened here in Hungary."

Reservoir of toxic mud bursts

A dam that was holding back a reservoir of toxic mud from an aluminum plant burst Monday. At least four people were killed and more than 100 injured as the sludge swept into nearby villages.

Corrosive elements in the mud can burn the skin and irritate eyes. The red sludge is a byproduct of bauxite, a basic material for manufacturing aluminum.

State of emergency

The government declared a state of emergency in three counties on Tuesday and has opened a criminal inquiry into the spill.

Joe Lowry from the International Federation of the Red Cross has been to the disaster site. Villagers described to him what the mud looked like as it poured into their village.

"Some people described it like a mini tsunami," said Lowry. "It covered two kilometers from the plant to the village in about 30 minutes, a wall of mud two meters high."

Ecological catastrophe

He says this is not only an ecological catastrophe, but also a human tragedy for the tight-knit Hungarian communities. He says the mud wiped out entire homes and livelihoods.

"There was just scarlet red mud as far as the eye could see all around the village of Colontar," Lowry added. "People were standing around still bewildered and shocked, looking at their homes. Many, many houses were completely, I would say, written off, some were almost completely demolished. Agricultural land is just covered with this thick toxic mud. The main bridge in the village was pretty much snapped in two. The river was turned blood red. Really it was a scene of bewilderment and shock and heavy damage."

The environmental group Greenpeace has described the spill as one of the worst three environmental disasters in Europe during the past few decades. The Danube, after leaving Hungary, runs through several European countries. The toxic mud could affect Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova before flowing into the Black Sea.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Hungarian-Toxic-Sludge-Nears-Danube--104492909.html

[Griska]

The govt are saying the pH levels have dropped to a level that won't cause further damage. I'd like to believe them.

[charley]

Rough looking stuff. This could have as bad an effect on that area as the damage done to the Ukraine and Belarus by Chernobyl

[C. Flower]

I'm going to merge this with the other thread on this + keep this title.

[Newsy]

Amid fears of a large-scale international pollution disaster, officials of several countries through which the Danube flows downstream of the pollution entry point, including Croatia, Serbia and Romania, were testing the river every few hours last night, while in Hungary itself emergency crews were trying to dilute the effluent and its damaging high alkalinity.

It emerged yesterday that the plant was placed on a 2006 list of sites which threatened to contaminate the Danube if there was an accident. The plant was one of 32 in Hungary identified by the authorities and should have been subject to greater inspections, said the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River.

Crews were working to reduce the alkalinity of the spill, which when it reached the Raba, the Mosoni-Danube and the Danube itself, was still about pH 9 – above the normal, harmless level of between 6 and 8, said Mr Dobson. He said it had been tested earlier at a pH level of 13. No dead fish had yet been spotted in the Danube, he said. However, in Gyor, a city in north-west Hungary where the Raba flows into the Mosoni-Danube, observers reported white froth on the river and lots of small dead fish washed ashore. Ambulance crews were distributing leaflets calling on residents not to fish or eat fish from the river, and to avoid contact with the water.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/anger-in-hungary-fear-downstream-as-toxic-contamination-spreads-2101071.html

This really is awful and the scale of this disaster is very worrying.

[Newsy]

The Danube River flows through Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine and Romania.

Above Hungry are Germany, Austria and Slovakia.

[C. Flower]

An even bigger collapse of the tailings pond reservoir dam seems to be happening, and thousands of people have been evacuated.

YouTube - Red sludge reservoir 'ready to collapse' as Hungary fears 2nd toxic spill