High radioactivity levels found in Bengħaisa fly ash
The cliff-edge in Bengħisa. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier
Fly ash produced by the Marsa power station when it was still coal-fired, which was dumped on the cliff-edge in Bengħaisa, contained high levels of radioactivity, according to a University study.
The pulverised fuel ash had "very high levels of all the radionuclides (radioactive contaminants) under test, namely K40, PB212 and PB214", the research found. The three elements are derivatives of potassium and lead.
Winds and rain occasionally spill the fly ash, which was covered with soil off the cliff-edge and into the sea below. The mound is situated at the back of the Freeport on the south eastern cliff face that borders Ħal Far industrial estate.
Scientific tests on the mound of fly ash were conducted five years ago by Josette Camilleri and Franco Montesin from the University's Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering and Michael Sammut from the hospital's Pathology Department. The study was published in the American journal Waste Management.
"I was surprised by the reaction when it was recently revealed that fly ash from the power stations was dumped in a quarry, because everybody seems to have forgotten that radioactive fly ash produced when coal was burned at Marsa was dumped in a disused quarry at Bengħisa," Dr Camilleri said.
Coal was last used in the Marsa power station in 1995, when it was modified to run on heavy fuel oil. This also produces fly ash which, though not radioactive, contains traces of hazardous heavy metals.
Dr Camilleri contacted The Sunday Times after this newspaper revealed that between 2004 and 2008 Enemalta had dumped fuel oil fly ash produced by the Marsa power station in a quarry belonging to the Polidano Group when the contractor was not licensed to handle and store such hazardous waste.
Polidano Brothers used this fly ash as 'bulking material' for concrete used to construct retaining walls in buildings until the Malta Environment and Planning Authority issued an enforcement order to stop the storage and use of the ash 2008.
The 2005 research, which also studied the use of fuel ash as a replacement for cement and aggregate in concrete mixes, established it was safer to use the fly ash produced from coal burning in concrete mixes rather than dump it.
The study showed that replacing between 10 and 20 per cent of cement in concrete mixes with fly ash produced radioactive levels that were lower than that of limestone from which stone is derived. The resulting concrete was of good quality.
"The health risk of such modified concrete should not be substantially different from the utilisation of limestone, which is the main building material in Malta," the researchers said.
"From this research it would seem that although pulverised fuel ash was disposed in a landfill as it was deemed to be the easiest solution, it would have been more economical to utilise it for construction purposes."
The researchers said land filling of fly ash was problematic as leaching of toxic waste substances took a long time to form and would persist for hundreds of years.
"Consequently it is not practical to design waste disposal sites with bottom liners and leachate collectors since such systems are unlikely to remain intact during the entire leaching period and treatment of the leachate is problematic and costly," they concluded.
In 1991, the Marsa power station used 250,000 tonnes of coal producing around 50,000 tonnes of pulverised fuel ash. The issue of radioactivity and fly ash was raised in Parliament last week by Labour MP George Vella who asked Finance Minister Tonio Fenech whether government was considering radioactivity testing.
Mr Fenech said fly ash from the power stations could not be radioactive because it was a by-product of oil combustion and as a result there was no need for radioactivity testing.
Popular Stories
Update 3: Woman found dead in car,...
Updated: Woman dies in car crash
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Part of Dwejra 'Azure window' collapses
The end of the bar that ‘never closed’
Bundy does not know whether to...
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
This WAS the night - Kurt makes it...
'No need for early election if PM's...
In Discussion
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
Gozo tunnel could take 5-7 years to...
CABS remote controlled aircraft shot...
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Joseph Calleja condemns portrayal of...
Updated: Labour would give...
CABS drone shot down
Second group of migrants arrives
Adrian Vassallo in scathing...
22 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
Muscat Pat
May 18th 2010, 09:58
But isn.nt heavy fuel oil used for tankers because it is the most dirty ( a mix of raw oil) and cheap? Tankers don't bother with pollution,since they are always miles away from inhabited areas, though the EU is going to change this because of the heavy toll on the environment. Don't we deserve better in the era of GonziPN ?
r.sacco
May 18th 2010, 08:44
@j.martinelli:
can you, for just once, make a serious comment without using your political brain washed blue cells which control your brains!?!?
Mike Magri
May 18th 2010, 07:59
@.J. Martinelli.... How PATHETIC can you CONTINUE to BE.....!!!! Il-Veru Nazzjonalist Miskin Int ta, fejn mohhok huwwa mimli tilja Ghanqbud ta l-imghoddi, wahda nobis.... Can`t you make an effort and be serious FOR ONCE in your, So Called, arguments....!!!!!
John Pace
May 16th 2010, 17:36
This claim was first made in the 1980's and the investigations carried out at that time indicated that there was no significant radioactivity. Enemalta should dig out its files and report on this matter so that the public will not be unnecessaritly alarmed. Messrs Camilleri and Montesin should also state clearly the levels of radioactivity found and how these compare with acceptable limits. It seems that tests made by the physics department differ from those by the architecture department.
Lawrence Fenech
May 16th 2010, 16:13
DAK MHU XEJN, IL KBIR GHADU GEJ!
Valhmor A. Zammit
May 16th 2010, 15:45
Oh gosh! We will be sprouting gills, fins and tails in no time at all!
leo attard
May 16th 2010, 14:37
i knew it! radioactive material is bein gdumped into the sea! and when the delimara extension is set up then its toxic by-products will end up in the sea ---- we have already begun to mutate! and men and women alike will all end up like marilyn manson after a long dip in the mediterranean!
deo micallef
May 16th 2010, 14:36
According to a study by nuclear scientists (and not some amateurs) which took place in the US about coal fired power stations, people living near these plants are exposed to a maximum of 1.9 millirems of fly ash radiation yearly whereas a normal person will get about 360 millirems of annual "background radiation" from natural and man-made sources ( cosmic rays, radiation coming from the earth's crust etc),those who have a basic understanding of quantum physics know what I am talking about. The study concludes that health risks from radiation in coal fly ash are low and other risks like being hit by lightning, are three or four times greater than radiation-induced health effects from coal plants.
J Martinelli
May 16th 2010, 14:21
Worse is the fact that the Marsa station ran on fuel oil from day one, but the great Mintoff figured that buying cheap coal from 'friendly' (then) Communist Poland made more sense and pleased his Soviet friends.
He also shut down the water distillers when parts to repair them were denied by the Americans, underlining the friendship between Malta and America at that time.
Yet, this same Labour Party alarms the public about the health 'risk' produced by fly-ash by the Delimara extension! They continue to disseminate misinformation with impunity and with the approval of the gullible. Their claims continue to be unfounded and serve no purpose other than to befuddle the public and insult its intelligence.
lgalea
May 16th 2010, 15:05
J Martinelli The distillers were not shut down due to parts, but because water cost as much as whisky to produce. You literally boil the sea water and pass the steam through coolers to get fresh water. The distillers were another money-no-problem problem foisted upon us by yet another PN Government.
deo micallef
May 16th 2010, 19:11
"Yet, this same Labour Party alarms the public about the health 'risk' produced by fly-ash by the Delimara extension!"
If HFO does not carry any risks to human health and the environment how come the country you are living in is reducing it's dependence on HFO? Heavy fuel oil accounted for 4.1% of Canada’s total energy needs in 2005, down from 5.5% in 1990.
Filwaqt li martinelli kuntent ghax fil pajjiz li qied jghix hu qed jehilsu mill hmieg ta l-HFO, irid iwikki, lielna il maltin, power station li tahdem bl-stess fuel!! Hallina Martinell, il-Maltin ma ghadhomx daqshekk stupidi, u anke kieku stess il-power station kienet ser tkun tahdem bi fuel iktar nadif, xorta mhux accettabbli ghax il-mod kif inghata il-kuntratt kien kollu tbazwir u kummiedji , aqra ir-rapport ta l-awditur please.
Joseph Ellul - Sydney
May 18th 2010, 10:37
I Galea: Distilled water is a by-product of the heat exchange system in all power stations. You do not produce distilled water at a cost of 100%. The cost of distilled water is the cost of the equipment involved. This is a one off item that will be written off in about 7 years according to accounting rules, which vary from country to country. Distilled water is then mixed with other impure water that is pumped up from the ground. This gives you a palatable mix. Once the LP stopped the distillers the water from the ground was pumped into the mains and started clogging the steel water pipes. That is why you have to change these pipes and fit plastic. Then Mintoff installed Ta Mose RO which was financed by the Saudies. He gave contracts out for supplies of substandard pumps and equipment. When the Saudies saw this they left and then the NP had to change all the rusty equipment installed by the Greatest Perit. Everything that the LP has done is to fill holes in the ground and move money around like a water spout. Aussie is going through the same now. Enjoy the PN.
M. Fenech
May 16th 2010, 14:01
Can somebody explain to me why the outcome of these studies was released at this particular moment in time? Could it be meant to deviate the people's attention about what's going on now with the new extension of the power station? And if some smart guy knew about this radioactivity, why didn't he speak before? I'm just asking, cause I'm a bit slow to understand certain statements lately!!!! Can anyone give us in detail what analisies they get when they study the SOIL around Malta and Gozo, please?
lgalea
May 16th 2010, 15:07
M. Fenech you hit the nail straight on the head. This is what always happens when the PN regime is underwater. See how Bondi+ and Xarabank raise up old issues from history to prop up their regime whenever it is being attacked left, right and centre for its wrongdoings.
E.Muscat
May 16th 2010, 12:29
U minn semmija fil-parlament:tal-PL.
U minn ghamilha ir-radjuattivita:tal-PL.
U minn jistennew tal -PL li jirranga:il-PN (bhal Matghab li wkoll kellu jirrangah il-PN u li ghamluh il-PL bhal Fulija ta' hal luqa u dump iehor f'ghawdex
i.cilia
May 16th 2010, 11:25
Ah very good
so now we have the party who ran the power station on coal for a long time, which produces TOXIC not hazardous waste accusing Government of putting people's health in jeopardy!!!!!!
when this study shows that coal is radioactive... not hazardous but radioactive..
it could be a case of practice what you preach... Joseph, you want to get elected, keep working on it... better sort the past mistakes rather than accuse others.. .
ahjar ma nghid xejn...
K.Anastasi
May 16th 2010, 12:09
PN had 10 years to change fuel, they are a guilty as PL. Take your blinkers off please.
i.cilia
May 16th 2010, 12:27
if you know how to count, from the article it says it stopped using coal in 1995...
that makes it 8 years... 87 to 95...
and if you think you can change such a thing overnight think again...
mela tajjeb, PL or MLP jghaxxaqhom, then you complain that PN did not arrange things..
not a question of blinkers but a question of facts..
lgalea
May 16th 2010, 14:26
i.cilia If the extension takes up to end of 2012 to build and put into service which is unrealistic considering past pn projects (roads, Ċirkewwa terminal and the Mġarr terminal, Mater Dejn, anwel Dimech Bridge, etc etc) it will have to be changed over by 2015. Furthermore, the excuse that was brough forward about using gas is that we do not have the necessary infrastructure (a couple of tanks) and that they would not be ready by the time the extension is finished. So if a couple of tanks to store gas would not be ready in time, how do you expect us to believe that the extension will be ready?
So how do you and the pn regime expect us to believe you that after the new power extension is working on HFO it will be changed by 2015 when we have to use gas to stay within the eu regulations limits? So why not use diesel or gas from the very beginning? And what is going to happen during the time it is being changed over to gas? More and more power cuts?
G. Xuereb
May 16th 2010, 11:22
"Mr Fenech said fly ash from the power stations could not be radioactive because it was a by-product of oil combustion and as a result there was no need for radioactivity testing."
L-arroganza ta' dal-bniedem (Mr. Know it all) tohrog kollha f'dal-istatement.
tony atkins
May 16th 2010, 12:08
Yes Benghisa its the south side of Malta was and always be the dumping sate. Whats next?
C Camilleri
May 16th 2010, 17:32
kieku qrajt l artiklu..
''Coal was last used in the Marsa power station in 1995, when it was modified to run on heavy fuel oil. This also produces fly ash which, though not radioactive, contains traces of hazardous heavy metals.''