Hungarian red mud is still unsafe

When Hungarian farmers prepared to plant on hundreds of hectares of agricultural land affected by the sludge of October, scientists warned that high alkalinity was the main threat to the harvest. .

Hungarian red mud is still unsafe.

In an environmental study published in the journal Science & Technology (ACS), refer to an inexpensive plaster reduction strategy. The authors of the study, Erik Smolders and colleagues, note that from the dam breach at the aluminum ore processing plant, polluting the surrounding land by more than 700,000 cubic meters of waste, called red mud.

At least 10 people died and hundreds were injured as the worst, unprecedented disaster in Hungary. Red mud contains toxic metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium and nickel. Red mud also contains radioactive and highly alkaline elements, eating skin, enough to burn skin and eyes.

The concentration of aluminum is 200,000 micrograms per liter of waste water, which is 100 times higher than permitted, according to Greenpeace. The rate of insoluble carbon is higher than the permissible level many times. Arsenic is 13 times higher than Austria's permitted level .

Red mud covered tens of centimeters on the cultivated ground. In 2011 farmers were concerned about the potential impact of red mud on crops: corn, alfalfa and other crops. There are no conditions for in-depth studies of the effects of red mud on plant growth, so scientists are interested in focusing on toxic metals and have preliminary conclusions:

Tests show that plants grown on contaminated soil are about 25% slower than those grown on uninfected soil.

However, the main reason does not appear to be due to toxic or radioactive metals, but the alkalinity of red mud and salt content is a harmful factor to crops. It has been proposed that the use of gypsum in red mud can reduce alkalinity and will accelerate the removal of salts. Scientists also suggest more long-term monitoring of the effects of heavy metals in crops to eliminate any contamination to the food chain.