S E Qld. coal fly ash disaster ________

Is there a disaster? ... Yes, a slow yet 'silent' deadly disaster.
Is it well known? ... No! This 'silent' environmental disaster is not known generally
by the majority of public. The public will hear of these problems from time to time however the
powers that be use media and industrial psychology to falsely cover or distract from the truth.
What is this disaster? ... Massive production of poisonous fly ash and smog
from burning coal. The inadequate disposal of fly ash in south east Queensland is causing
long term poisoning. Note that coal is one of the most impure of fuels.
Where is the source of this disaster? ... Tarong Power Station.
What are the 'powers that be' doing about this? ... Very little!
Why "very little" ? ... Adequate disposal is very costly. It is cheaper to keep the
many environmental problems concealed from the general public.
What is coal fly ash? ... It is fine particulate ash resulting from the combustion
of coal, and discharged as airborne emissions whereby much is recovered by solidification
while suspended in the exhaust gases, being collected by electrostatic precipitators or filter
bags. As the particles solidify while suspended in the exhaust gases, fly ash particles are
usually spherical in shape and range in size from 0.5 - 100 µm.
What is this smog? ... It is a result of the poisonous gases containing nitrogen
oxides and sulphur dioxide combining with other pollutants to form the most noxious parts of this smog. Note that these gases cause acid-rain damage. Acid rain is a broad term referring to
a mixture of wet and dry deposited material from the atmosphere containing higher than normal
amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids. Prevailing winds can blow these compounds over hundreds
of kilometres.

What pollutants does fly ash consists of ?
It consists of inorganic incombustible matter present in the coal
that has been fused during combustion into a glassy amorphous
structure. Coal can range in ash content from 2%-30%, and of this
around 85% becomes fly ash, with the remaining 15% called bottom
ash which isn't lifted up by the flue gases.
Fly ash contains silicon dioxide, aluminium oxide, iron oxide, and
heavy metals including nickel, vanadium, arsenic, beryllium,
cadmium, barium, chromium, copper, molybdenum, zinc, lead,
selenium and traces of radioactive materials.
As large amounts of fly ash are produced, a tremendous amount of
radioactive waste is generated. This radioactivity is due to the
elements in the decay chain of uranium and thorium; the radium is
of concern as 226Ra decays to form radon (222Rn) which has a
half-life of days and is able to form mobile daughter radioisotopes.
This type of radioactive material often is known by the code name
NORM.
Producers of fly ash contend that this ash is harmless
and has similar properties to soil. This is not correct!
It has been estimated that about 7 million tonnes (Mt) are disposed
of annually in Australia, 40 Mt in the United States and hundreds
of megatonnes in India and China. As a result, the disposal of fly
ash is a growing concern.

What does the Ontario Medical Assoc. (OMA)
say about smog (air pollution) ?
Burning coal produces smog and harms our health -
Estimates are that air pollution costs Ontario more than $10 billion
per year in health care costs, lost work time and other quantifiable
expenses, as well as killing an estimated 2,000 Ontarians each year.
The OMA has declared air pollution "a public health crisis" in
Ontario. Coal-fired power plants are the single largest industrial
contributors to this crisis. These plants are major producers of
nitrogen oxides, which combine with other pollutants to form
ground-level ozone, one of the most noxious parts of the smog
brew. Sulphur dioxide, which contributes to the yellow haze that
hangs over Southern Ontario is a major factor in causing acid-rain
damage to lakes, rivers and forests.
Mercury can, in even tiny amounts, have a devastating impact
on the human nervous system, especially for children and
the unborn. Exposure to mercury can cause brain and kidney
damage and even death. Mercury exposure has also been linked
to impairment of children's reasoning skills.
Lead, which is also particularly harmful to children can cause
brain damage, impair growth, damage kidneys and cause learning
and behavioral problems.
Heavy metals, including cadmium and chromium are known
cancer-causing toxins. The pollution coming out of Nanticoke's
giant smokestacks is the equivalent of the pollution produced by
3.3 million cars. Its emissions contribute not only to the choking
smog that lies over Southern Ontario every summer, but also to
the potentially devastating impacts of global climate change and
to the well-known problems caused by acid rain.

S. E. Queensland continues to grow rapidly and coal combustion continues to be the dominant fuel
source for electricity. Naturally occurring radioactive species released by coal combustion are
accumulating in the environment along with minerals such as aluminum, iron, lead, magnesium,
titanium, boron, chromium, mercury, arsenic, silicon, calcium, chlorine, lead and sodium. Add to
this the problems of acid rain and so the long term problems of these released materials will
one day be of such significance that they should not be ignored now .

Tarong Power Station claims that over 300,000 tonnes (or 20 percent of Tarong
Power Station's annual ash production) was sold to Cement Australia during
2004/05 for use in the concrete industry, and some was sold for ceramic, paint and
insulation products. Refer www.tarongenergy.com.au/?p=38
This means that over 1,500,000 tonnes of ash were produced during 2004/05.
Based on an average of 85% being fly ash, this equates to Tarong producing
over 1,275,000 tonnes of fly ash. Subtracting the 300,000 tonnes sold, and allowing
for other sales such as ceramic production, there could be approx. 800,000 tonnes
of poisonous fly ash inadequately stored at Tarong.