Acid rising from the ground in the Urals corroded everything in its path

22

Russian authorities are investigating a toxic waste leak from the Levikhinsky mine in the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals, a mine that has been abandoned for sixteen years. Near the object is an ominous landscape with shades of red and yellow colors - traces of acid destruction of the surrounding area. This is reported by the Czech portal Aktualne.

The area eroded by chemicals is located on the outskirts of the 100-year-old Levikhinsky mine, 93 kilometers from Yekaterinburg and 35 kilometers from Nizhny Tagil. Copper ore was once mined in the mine.



In 1997, there was a flood here, and no one pumped out the water due to the high cost of electricity

- said local ecologist Andrey Volegov.

When the mine was operating, water was pumped out of the mine, but after its closure, this work stopped. However, the water horizon does not disappear, and water gradually rises to the surface through the rocks, reacting with them - as a result, acidic streams containing heavy metals corrode everything in their path. Usually toxic streams flow into the nearby Tagil River, causing fish to die.


Another source of pollution is precipitation. After extracting the necessary metals, the rock was piled directly under the open sky. And now the rains are flowing over the dumps formed as a result of ore processing - poisonous streams leave behind a scorched territory.

Recently, the attention of the whole world has been focused on the Arctic regions of the northern part of Russia, where about 21000 tons of fuel oil seeped into the bowels and rivers during an accident at a power plant and heating plant in Norilsk - this provoked a real environmental disaster in the region.
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  1. 0
    24 July 2020 15: 05
    Interestingly, we learn about such landscapes from some Czech portals ...
    1. 123
      +2
      24 July 2020 15: 33
      Interestingly, we learn about such landscapes from some Czech portals ...

      Who is to blame for you for learning about such landscapes from some Czech portals? laughing



      1. -2
        25 July 2020 14: 17
        You are so small.
        You are not on RT, on the Reporter. All to them, why are they nodding at the Czechs, and not at RT.
      2. 0
        26 July 2020 18: 04
        Quote: 123
        do you learn about such landscapes from some Czech portals?

        These landscapes have long been photographed by anyone. "Your" video on YouTube is dated 16.07.2020/2018/XNUMX, but the shooting of XNUMX:

        https://www.ural.kp.ru/daily/26888.7/3932014/

        Here something else is more interesting - the author writes that the Russian authorities are conducting an investigation - so how are they conducting - they have been investigating unsuccessfully for two years already, or are they investigating-closing-the spring flood (new circumstances)-investigating and so on in a circle? lol
        1. 123
          +1
          26 July 2020 18: 26
          Here something else is more interesting - the author writes that the Russian authorities are conducting an investigation - so how are they conducting - they have been investigating unsuccessfully for two years already, or are they investigating-closing-the spring flood (new circumstances)-investigating and so on in a circle?

          Quite right and this is very bad, but, unfortunately, these long-standing problems are not being solved. The situation is not unique, if you pay attention to the second video, this is not entirely ours and the approach to the problem is similar (this is me to immediately dismiss the question of why we are bad, not like "them"). hi
    2. +4
      25 July 2020 14: 09
      Quote: Sergey Latyshev
      we learn about such landscapes from some Czech portals ...

      Such landscapes are a dime a dozen in the world. Both natural and man-made.
      Breakthrough of a sludge storage dam in Hungary remember? People died there.
      But the El Rio Vinegre river in general - 0,9% sulfuric acid in water and 0,6% hydrochloric acid. Bottle and sell as toilet bowl cleaner.
      1. 0
        25 July 2020 14: 20
        There was something.
        And salt and alkaline, yes, always and everywhere was full. I remember beautiful multi-colored lakes in Ossetia. In childhood..
        1. 0
          25 July 2020 21: 58
          Yes, yes .. Here I am, after 2011 I'm afraid to buy fish. Suddenly she was caught off the coast of Japan ..
          1. -3
            26 July 2020 09: 45
            Are you from the Far East? Do you have a Geiger counter at home?
            An acquaintance working in this field calms down - they say, it's all bullshit, buy boldly ...
            1. +1
              26 July 2020 11: 59
              Are you from the Far East?

              No, I'm from the Wild West.

              Do you have a Geiger counter at home?
              An acquaintance working in this area calms down - they say, it's all bullshit, buy boldly.

              Well, tell your friend that a proportional detector of ionizing radiation is used to measure the energy of gamma quanta (cesium 137). The Geiger-Muller counter is not such a detector.
              1. 0
                26 July 2020 14: 20
                She knows it. It works for the manufacturers of detectors.
                And fish from Japan goes to the Wild West of America, yes ...
                1. +1
                  26 July 2020 14: 25
                  And fish from Japan goes to the Wild West of America, yes ...

                  Ah, well, then I'm not quite Wild yet.

                  She knows it. It works for the manufacturers of detectors.

                  Well then, her advertising message will be appreciated)
              2. +1
                26 July 2020 15: 34
                Quote: Dear sofa expert.
                for measuring the energy of gamma quanta

                There may also be alpha-beta contamination, it also needs to be taken into account somehow. It is necessary to look at the radionuclide composition of what entered the ocean and draw conclusions based on the half-life - there, if something has not yet disintegrated, the concentrations are diluted with water billions of times. You need to eat fish, supervisory agencies are watching over its quality, you worry in vain.
                1. +1
                  26 July 2020 16: 33
                  I wrote specifically about cesium 137. Whoever is in the subject understands what I mean.
                  1. +1
                    26 July 2020 17: 08
                    Quote: Dear sofa expert.
                    Who is in the subject, he understands

                    Radiocesium, with a half-life of ~ 30 years, is deposited mainly in muscle and bone tissues (one of the longest-living cells in the body), from where it irradiates the entire body for a long time, and therefore such attention is paid to it. I talked about something else - the total activity that has entered the body consists not only of radiocaesium. A separately taken gamma quantum can leave the body without interacting with it in any way, while each alpha and beta particle that has entered the body is absorbed in it, transferring its energy (dose of radiation) to the corresponding tissue. The quality factors introduced by the ICRP, they are also weighting factors, testify to the danger of certain types of radiation relative to gamma radiation. Roughly speaking, in order to estimate the activity of the radiation that does not leave the fish, it is first necessary to obtain a dry residue from this fish and make sure that there is a vacuum between the dry residue and the detector, and for the accuracy of the estimates it is desirable to cut off external (natural) radiation. Measuring cesium without measuring associated radionuclides does not guarantee that the fish is "clean". However, you don't have to fear for the Far Eastern fish - the issue was closed at least in 2013, and since then there have been no "explosive" inflows of activity into the ocean:

                    https://tass.ru/arhiv/739475

                    As for cesium itself, its habitat (lake, river, sea) is important for accumulation in fish. The corresponding, at least Japanese, studies were also carried out and ended with the same conclusions as those of the Federal Agency for Fishery.
                    1. +2
                      26 July 2020 18: 54
                      A separately taken gamma quantum can leave the body without interacting with it in any way

                      Yes maybe. Or maybe, as you say:

                      is deposited mainly in muscle and bone tissues (one of the longest-living cells of the body), from where it irradiates the entire body for a long time

                      But we are now talking specifically about Fukushima.

                      while every alpha and beta particle that enters the body is absorbed in it.

                      This is not entirely true.
                      The main radionuclides in the atomic decay of uranium-235 and plutonium are cesium-137 and strontium.
                      When cesium-137 decays, beta and gamma radiation is emitted.
                      When strontium radiation decays, beta radiation is formed.
                      As you can see, Alpha particles are not there.

                      The ability to accumulate radionuclides in large quantities is possessed by marine organisms, especially during the period of their active growth, although I agree that freshwater fish are contaminated tens and hundreds of times more than marine ones, but when it comes to normal conditions. And then there was an accident at a nuclear power plant. This radically changes the alignment.
                      And yet, on the subject of my dispute with a colleague.
                      Household dosimeters on the sensors will not be able to determine the infected fish; they will show an excess only if the concentration of radionuclides is 10 times higher than the maximum permissible norm. Dosimeters on more accurate mica sensors can show background changes in microsieverts.
                      None of the simple household dosimeters can detect alpha particles, only gamma rays. Increased readings can be detected with a spectrometer, but this is not a household device.
                      As for the "Japanese studies", well, here, firstly, the Japanese have different norms due to the traditions of their nutrition. Fish is their main staple on the table. Maybe they just don't want to panic. Therefore, to rely on their (in my understanding) subjective opinion - then let everyone decide for himself.
                      1. +1
                        26 July 2020 19: 19
                        Quote: Dear sofa expert.
                        talking specifically about Fukushima

                        There are pressurized water reactors, if I am not mistaken (tables 3-4):

                        http://profbeckman.narod.ru/RH0.files/26_4.pdf

                        Quote: Dear sofa expert.
                        As you can see, Alpha particles are not there

                        Natural uranium fed into the reactor is enriched to ~ 5% in terms of the 235th isotope. The rest of the mass is uranium-238, which is an alpha emitter. In addition, in the tables at the link above, there are clearly still alpha emitters (I do not want to dig deeply, but the point is that most of them have already disintegrated after 9 years and even 9 days, and some are not, although they are not the main ones dose-forming).

                        Quote: Dear couch expert.
                        None of the simple household dosimeters

                        This is what I was trying to say - the absence of the "squeak" of the dosimeter does not mean the purity of the product.

                        Quote: Dear sofa expert.
                        it is simply not profitable for them to panic

                        Perhaps, but there must be other studies, just the Japanese I saw in person.
                      2. +2
                        26 July 2020 19: 39
                        There are pressurized water reactors, if I'm not mistaken

                        You are not mistaken. From the destroyed reactor of Fukushima, a significant amount of just cesium-137 was thrown out - up to 15 PBq and less, but also significant - 0,1 - 1 PBq of strontium-90. I actually wrote about cesium. What is the subject of the dispute?
                        I just said that after this accident I was afraid to buy fish. Who knows where she is from? And for some reason a colleague began to "prescribe" a Geiger counter for me from his friend.))
                      3. +1
                        26 July 2020 19: 45
                        Quote: Dear sofa expert.
                        after this accident I'm afraid to buy fish

                        good In this case, pay attention also to buckwheat, suddenly it is Altai, and there it is not far from Semipalatinsk. Do you like Belarusian condensed milk? In vain, it is made from the milk of cows grazing in the "Chernobyl" meadows. laughing
                      4. +1
                        26 July 2020 20: 18
                        In this case, pay attention also to buckwheat, suddenly it is Altai, and there it is not far from Semipalatinsk. Do you like Belarusian condensed milk? In vain, it is made from the milk of cows grazing in the "Chernobyl" meadows.

                        I will take all this into account and will do just that. Thanks for the advice!
  2. +2
    26 July 2020 12: 04
    Interestingly, and someone sat down for this?
    1. +1
      26 July 2020 13: 14
      Who? Well, if only Gorbachev (he is still alive), and Yeltsin has already died.

      In 1997, there was a flood here, and no one pumped out the water due to the high cost of electricity.