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Luca
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 178 |
Alkaline mudslide in Ajka
I'm sitting here at work (hence no Facebook and no chatting stuff available), reading several online press about the disaster in Ajka, Hungary: dozens of wounded ppl because of the alkaline mud, and some dead ones too.
I can't hide my anxiety about Poison, Cargo, Leon and all the ppl of Singular and Chorus which live there in Ajka.
If anybody has success in collect infos about their health and their status in general, would be very appreciated. Thank you in advance, crossfingering. |
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leonofsgr
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 15 |
2. day...
i'm ok...
:_/ |
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Mace
Registered: May 2002
Posts: 1799 |
Location on Google Maps.
What surprises me is the lack of risc containment.
How on Earth is it possible that the failure of a single dam results in such a catastrophe?
The strength of a dam like that and the force of the mud and such is not too complicated to calculate.
Also, it is rather easy to think of what would happen if the dam would collapse and so measures could have been taken to contain the consequences.
Like a moat around the depot or a sheet pile reinforced dam.
Another thing is the amount of water in the mud.
It would have been wise to drain the mud and purify the drainage water.
But hey... that would probably have been too expensive for the aluminium factury, right? :-/ |
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Sander
Registered: Jan 2002
Posts: 493 |
Best of luck to you Leon. |
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Oswald
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5086 |
http://galeria.index.hu/belfold/2010/10/05/legifelvetelek_az_at..
look at the trees (yes those tiny bushes are big trees!) on this picture to get an idea of the huge size of the dam. I think everyone rightfully tought it will be strong enough. it was the risk containment in itself. it was also checked up from time to time, etc etc.
about the amount of water, you should read up on how aluminium is made to understand. |
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Luca
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 178 |
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/10/a_flood_of_toxic_sludg..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRyoXo396Zw
They offered an embarassing lowreparation money, and the population, proudly, refused. |
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Mace
Registered: May 2002
Posts: 1799 |
In the Port of Rotterdam area, we have a depot for contaminated soil and dredging sludge (De Slufter).
From the looks of it, our depot is like 5 times bigger...
No offence meant and none taken, but as a civil engineer working for the Rotterdam Port Authority, I know a few things about stuff like this. :-) |
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leonofsgr
Registered: Mar 2004
Posts: 15 |
3. day...
i'm ok...
:_/ |
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Oswald
Registered: Apr 2002
Posts: 5086 |
Quote: In the Port of Rotterdam area, we have a depot for contaminated soil and dredging sludge (De Slufter).
From the looks of it, our depot is like 5 times bigger...
No offence meant and none taken, but as a civil engineer working for the Rotterdam Port Authority, I know a few things about stuff like this. :-)
I see no risk containment there either and the dam seems to be roughly the same size.
The dam in Hungary was 65m wide at bottom and was made of stuff which is stronger than concrete. They say it might have skidded on its bottom, coz it was on sludge + heavy rains. |
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Hoild
Registered: Apr 2005
Posts: 29 |
Someone asked why were there no safety precautions and secondary defenses for the toxic sludge dam, and how could it get so out of hand?
The reason is of course human greed, or as the PC lingo would call it, "cost rationalization".
The originally state-owned industries that produced most of the sludge and operated the containment facilities, were privatized during the mid-nineties. The private owners who bought those factories and lands got an incredible deal from .gov -- they could get it at extremely low cost, if they were willing to warrant the maintenance and upgrade of the containment areas and safety measures. If course they did not skip on such a killer deal.
-Then somehow the upgrades did not happen, and even the maintenance was done with cutting costs wherever possible. And .gov failed to enforce the warranted responsibilities on the private owners.
And so it came about that when the shit hit the fan, it wickedly got out of hand.
Here is a recent announcement from European Left.org with some extra details and info on the Red Mud catastrophe, and warnings about a potential forthcoming catastrophe at a nearby area that also contains hazardous materials (with comparable negligence and "cost rationalization"):
http://newsportal.european-left.org/nc/english/newshome/news_ar..
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Gargaj
Registered: May 2003
Posts: 12 |
Just a part-hilarious, part-tragic article on the matter:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/09.. |
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