(November 23, 1990) During a radioecological investigation of the MAPE uranium ore processing plant in Mydlovary, Czechoslovakia (approximately 12 km away from Ceske Budejovice), Alarmingly high radioactive contamination of Radium-226 was found in the plant's surroundings. The independent scientific investigation, including scientists from the Austrian Institute for Ecology, was commissioned by Greenpeace Austria.
(342.3424) WISE Amsterdam - The scientists found Radium-226 contaminations of up to 800,000 Becquerel/kg in a several hundred square meter waste and tailing disposal site filled with old machinery parts and installation components. The natural background-level of Ra in the ground is around 50-60 Bq/kg!. The site is easily accessible (approximately 100 meters away from the MAPE plant) and no warning is posted for anyone on the nearby path or in the surrounding fields.
"There are pieces of wood, old pipes, insulation material, machine components etc. lying around at the dump", reports nuclear physicist Peter Bossew, one of the scientists involved. He added, "We received a hint and found the place in the course of our investigations of the MAPE-plant. Our Geiger-counter deflected like mad. The scrap parts are covered with a dark, greasy and oily substance where we found the highest radium contamination levels."
Further research showed that the dump is used for the disposal of waste material coming from the modernization of some of the old parts of the plant, especially from the old chemical plant for the uranium ore processing. "It was by chance that we discovered it as the disposal is currently being filled up with soil. Therefore it is impossible to tell what else there is hidden under the soil. Not to mention that there is no protection for the ground water at all," commented Bossew.
The highly contaminated waste dump is not the only environmental threat caused by MAPE. Around the plant there are 192 hectares of pits used for disposal of sludge from the plant. Since the beginning of operations at MAPE in the late fifties, contaminated sludge and waste has continuously been dumped into these pits. Says Bossew, "A-round MAPE we found enormous amounts of radium in the environment. We also found very high levels in the pits, contaminated with Radium-226, Thorium-230 and other substances. The levels range between 10,000 and 20,000 Bq/kg. In the view of their long half lives (Ra-226: 1620 years; Th-230: 75,000 years) and the insufficient protection of the dump and the pits against ground water contamination, MAPE has to be considered as a ticking time bomb and a threat for thousands of years."
The dangers of radium can be compared with those of plutonium. Radium is deposited in the bones and can lead to leukaemia and bone cancer. Such a disposal of radioactive waste is completely unacceptable, say activists.
In January of 1990 Greenpeace Austria revealed that MAPE is a totally antiquated plant, releasing high amounts of radioactivity both through daily use and accidents. Since the early sixties, repeatedly, accidents and malfunctions occurred but were covered up and kept secret Workers and the public were never informed about the dangers caused by the plant. Greenpeace nuclear campaigner Michael Undorf said about the investigation, "These first results confirm that we were right with calling for an immediate closure of the plant. Nevertheless, nothing has happened since. We demand an immediate closure of MAPE and a thorough investigation of the whole MAPE-affair by a team of international scientists."
Source: Greennet (via gp.press, topic 142, 9 Nov. 1990)
Contact: Florian Faber, Greenpeace Austria, Mariahilfergurtel 32, A- 1060 Vienna, Austria, tel: +43-1- 7130031/17.