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Message
Mosaic plant in St. James might have a problem...
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:42 pm
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:42 pm
LINK
I'd imagine that might be an issue if it were to give way. Let's hope the engineers are right.
quote:
Hundreds of trucks a day will be traveling this week through a mushy cane field north of Mosaic Fertilizer's huge phosphogypsum waste pile in St. James Parish to dump 150,000 cubic yards of earth in hopes of blunting a slow-moving, potential environmental disaster.
Mosaic officials said the mounds of dirt to shore up a failing retaining wall of the gypsum waste pile are one half of a two-part strategy to halt the incremental creep of a portion of the towering outer wall surrounding the waste and to prevent a potentially catastrophic failure of a giant lake of highly acidic water contained at the top of the pile nearly 200 feet in the air and visible from miles around.
I'd imagine that might be an issue if it were to give way. Let's hope the engineers are right.
18
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:45 pm to LSUFanHouston
Only industry this state has are shite plants
And our politicians are openly hostile to them
And our politicians are openly hostile to them
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:45 pm to LSUFanHouston
Saw that earlier
If someone could find a use for that gypsum waste, they'd be a millionaire overnight
If someone could find a use for that gypsum waste, they'd be a millionaire overnight
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:49 pm to upgrayedd
The now nearly 960-acre waste pile outside Convent contains gypsum, an unwanted byproduct from phosphate fertilizer production with trace radioactivity and limited ability to be recycled.
In addition to bringing in dirt, the other step has been happening since Jan. 14. Using pumps and siphons, Mosaic has been draining the 140-acre lake at the top of the gypsum pile into other ponds on the site. The lake, which is being drained of about 10 million gallons, or 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools, per day, is believed to contain 720 million gallons of process water.
Yet, neither Schweiss and Ron Yasurek, Mosaic's general manager of phosphate operations, nor state regulators could say for certain how long it would take for those measures to work, or if they definitively would.
"I want to see a couple weeks of stability before we say, 'Hey, we won,'" Yasurek said.
In addition to bringing in dirt, the other step has been happening since Jan. 14. Using pumps and siphons, Mosaic has been draining the 140-acre lake at the top of the gypsum pile into other ponds on the site. The lake, which is being drained of about 10 million gallons, or 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools, per day, is believed to contain 720 million gallons of process water.
Yet, neither Schweiss and Ron Yasurek, Mosaic's general manager of phosphate operations, nor state regulators could say for certain how long it would take for those measures to work, or if they definitively would.
"I want to see a couple weeks of stability before we say, 'Hey, we won,'" Yasurek said.
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:53 pm to MrLSU
Greg Langley, spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Quality, said the wall is moving about a half inch, on average, per day; but the movement is uneven: Some wall parts move and stop and then other parts shift.
Mosaic officials said a 1,500- to 2,000-foot length in the nearly mile-long north wall of the gypsum pile was moving out horizontally toward La. 3214.
Yet, the shifting was imperceptible against the huge pile's bulk, the officials said, and wasn't caught until sometime in late December and early January. A farmer leasing Mosaic land along the north face of the pile cut his sugar cane and found a 4- to 5-foot-high "bulge" in the field along the north face of the waste pile.
I may not know much but I know a looming environmental disaster when I see one and this my friends is going to be a cluster frick of an environmental disaster.
Mosaic officials said a 1,500- to 2,000-foot length in the nearly mile-long north wall of the gypsum pile was moving out horizontally toward La. 3214.
Yet, the shifting was imperceptible against the huge pile's bulk, the officials said, and wasn't caught until sometime in late December and early January. A farmer leasing Mosaic land along the north face of the pile cut his sugar cane and found a 4- to 5-foot-high "bulge" in the field along the north face of the waste pile.
I may not know much but I know a looming environmental disaster when I see one and this my friends is going to be a cluster frick of an environmental disaster.
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:53 pm to MrLSU
Wonder if they're going try to pump some grout slurry into those dike walls
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:55 pm to upgrayedd
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:55 pm to upgrayedd
quote:
If someone could find a use for that gypsum waste, they'd be a millionaire overnight
they said that pile has been building since 1975. 44 years worth of that stuff.
I guess there is no end plan here. Just let it grow until the plant shuts down.
It's a shame they can't clean it up and then use it to build marsh or something.
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:57 pm to LSUFanHouston
I just got off the phone with Gordon due to the stress this potential disaster is causing me.
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:57 pm to upgrayedd
Water on the stack has a pH close to 1. They just finished a project that may help mitigate the damage, but who knows what would really happen in a collapse.
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:57 pm to MrLSU
quote:
A farmer leasing Mosaic land along the north face of the pile cut his sugar cane and found a 4- to 5-foot-high "bulge" in the field along the north face of the waste pile.
This is the alarming part. I heard about the crack and spreading but haven't heard about the bulge
Posted on 1/31/19 at 4:59 pm to Mudminnow
quote:
This is the alarming part. I heard about the crack and spreading but haven't heard about the bulge
Ruh roh
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:01 pm to TDsngumbo
quote:
I just got off the phone with Gordon due to the stress this potential disaster is causing me.
If you live along the Blind River it will cause you some harm because when (not IF) this collapse takes place it will catastrophic. 720 million gallons of radioactive acidic water which will kill 100% of all wild and aquatic life that comes in contact with it.
This is radioactive contamination that would be impossible to decontaminate.
This post was edited on 1/31/19 at 5:10 pm
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:01 pm to Mudminnow
Shoring with dirt isn't going to help with that but maybe delay it long enough to drain the thing.
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:01 pm to LSUFanHouston
quote:
It's a shame they can't clean it up and then use it to build marsh or something.
It was looked into but radioactive and not good for marine life.
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:02 pm to StinkBait72
quote:
Water on the stack has a pH close to 1.
Is there no feasible way to lower the pH?
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:04 pm to Sid in Lakeshore
Bleach
This post was edited on 1/31/19 at 5:05 pm
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:06 pm to Sid in Lakeshore
Proposed uses for it
quote:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has banned most applications of phosphogypsum having a 226Ra concentration of greater than 10 picocurie/gram (0.4 Bq/g). As a result, phosphogypsum which exceeds this limit is stored in large stacks.
Central Florida has a large quantity of phosphate deposits, particularly in the Bone Valley region. However, the marine-deposited phosphate ore from central Florida is weakly radioactive, and as such, the phosphogypsum by-product (in which the radionuclides are somewhat concentrated) is too radioactive to be used for most applications. As a result, there are about 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum stacked in 25 stacks in Florida (22 are in central Florida) and about 30 million new tons are generated each year.[2]
Various applications have been proposed for using phosphogypsum, including using it as material for:[1]
Artificial reefs and oyster beds
Cover for landfills
Road pavement
Roof tiles
Soil conditioner
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:07 pm to StinkBait72
quote:
Water on the stack has a pH close to 1. They just finished a project that may help mitigate the damage, but who knows what would really happen in a collapse.
If the wall is 200', what is the depth of that lake?
Also, I assume it's a closed loop (except for the rainfall)? Water runs to plant, water runs out to lake, cools, runs back to plant, etc? With some lost in the process and rain re-filling it?
Posted on 1/31/19 at 5:10 pm to LSUFanHouston
Some parts move and stop, then other parts shift. In total, the wall has moved 13 feet to the north.
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