08-10-2010, 12:25 PM
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Member
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 184
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What a nightmare!
Quote:
Hungary toxic sludge heading towards the Danube | World news | The Guardian
"MAL Zrt, which owns the plant, has insisted that, according to EU standards, the sludge is not considered hazardous waste. The company has also rejected criticism that it should have taken more precautions to shore up the reservoir, which is more than 450 metres long and 300 metres across."
Emergency workers have poured 1,000 tonnes of plaster into the Marcal river to try to bind the sludge that burst from a waste reservoir and keep it from flowing on to the Danube, 45 miles away.
At 1,770 miles (2,850km), the Danube is Europe's second longest river, and it is rich in wildlife. South of Hungary, it flows through Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova before reaching the Black Sea.
Hungary's environment minister, Zoltan Illes, said topsoil would have to be removed throughout the contaminated area, adding that the cleanup could cost tens of millions of pounds and take at least a year.
"The area is very big, there is very heavy contamination. Lots of human resources are needed, definitely machinery is needed," he told the BBC.
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Who let these clowns into the EU?  Heads must roll. 
River Danube - Google Maps
Quote:
Five People Now Dead In Hungarian Red Sludge Spill Which Is As Large As BP Oil Disaster | World News | Sky News
Five people have now died in a toxic sludge spill in Hungary thought to be equivalent in size to the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
The volume of waste has been calculated by government officials who estimate that 600,000 to 700,000 cubic metres (158 million to 184 million gallons) of sludge escaped and inundated three villages before entering the Danube on Thursday.
The BP oil spill amounted to more than 200 million gallons (757,000 cubic metres).
Greenpeace are warning the waste, which flowed out of a burst reservoir at a metals plant in the town of Ajka, contains "surprisingly high" levels of arsenic and mercury, according to reports.
Speaking at a news conference in Austria charity representatives said detected arsenic concentration is twice that normally found in so-called red mud.
Analysis of water in a canal also found arsenic levels 25 times the limit for drinking water
However, Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban has said the crisis is "under control".
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Toxic waste reaches the Danube.
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