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Jul 27, 2009 02:00 PM | 17
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The U.S. is sitting on a slippery stockpile of toxic material that has nothing to do with the nuclear power industry: thousands of tons of mercury. The question remains now of where to store it.
The heavy metal, found in everything from old thermometers to power plant emissions, has been linked to neurological damage, birth defects and other health concerns.
Although dedicated mercury mining stopped in the U.S. in 1990, the storage reserves have continued to grow as demand for manufacturing and other uses have dropped off. By 1994, sales from the U.S. mercury stockpile were suspended. A 2003 report [pdf] by state and federal environmental agencies found that “there is not a national plan or a consensus on who should be storing excess elemental mercury.”
Some of the mercury excesses have been shipped overseas to countries that have more lax disposal laws, according to the Associated Press. But the 2008 Mercury Export Ban Act charged the Department of Energy (DoE) with finding a domestic destination for long-term storage of the mined metal. After the DoE announced a shortlist of possible storage sites, opposition has been quickly rising.
Colorado, one of the seven states under consideration, has seen protest from locals and politicians alike, including Gov. Bill Ritter, who said: “The risks to ground and surface water are too great. The risks to our air quality are too great.”
The other states on the list are Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. Kansas City has already passed a resolution to oppose mercury storage at a local energy plant, according to the Kansas City Star.
Despite the challenges of the search for a storage location, the DoE is looking at the silver lining. “We see this as an opportunity to help reduce the export and transportation of mercury,” Frank Marcinowski of the DoE’s environmental management office told the AP.
The DoE is expected to issue an environmental impact statement for public comment in the coming months.
Image courtesy of bionerd via Wikimedia Commons
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17 Comments
Add CommentSurely CFL bulb manufacturers will need some of this.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMercury used to be a serious problem in Europe where it would leak in factories and seriously pollute water-tables. The simple solution to the problem of leakage of any toxic product was to advise firms to build industrial plant in sloping water-tight reservoirs, where all escaping liquids would flow to the lowest place where they could be safely pumped into appropriate tanks for reuse or disposal. Easy to apply and very effective...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswhy not return the mined element to it's origins? is the process irreversible or would that be akin to dumping it in someone's backyard? or maybe it is simply too expensive to attempt?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthere is no 'right' place for it, but the closest I can imagine is the original source.
Sorry to sound like an a-hole, but we can mix some of this into guns, bullets, and bombs that can be used/sold outside America. Make our problem, everyone else's [in small quantities]. Just an idea that I do not support.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOh yeah? Well maybe they will someday tell the truth about silver fillings and start to keep it out of peoples mouths.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI like eco-steves idea; however when it rains you now have to worry about treating all that water, or having a large enough area to allow it to evaporate, while ensuring wildlife do not come in contact with it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince it is a liquid at room temperature could we launch it into space and see the properites of it there (since it would be a solid in space)? A wild and crazy idea might be using mercury on the moon to build space ships that will never enter an atmosphere.
This is a problem? 17,000 tons of mercury is about 1250 cubic meters or a cube 11 meters on a side. It comes to about 450,000 standard 76 pound flasks. The stuff is non corrosive, immiscible with water, and as you can see from the photo, doesn't wet surfaces. In a dry location the material should remain contained indefinitely in its flasks. The hard part is overcoming the scientifically illiterate NIMBY's. And, no, jdh46, mercury will not be a solid in space. Above -40C it will be liquid, although it would probably volatilize rapidly is space.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI want some! Can a hazmat suit be included too? I can find many things to do with at least 3 kilograms of it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf you read any of Edgar Caycee's writings they used Mercury to power flying vehicles in Atlantas and Lemuria. But if memory serves me they also started to use it as a weapon which finally caused Atlantas to sink.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLook it up.
If "Steve D" is correct in his above comment then why not store the 11 cubic meter's worth of Mercury under the mountain where our Stargate is based? Maybe we could use it to trade with Klingons.
Terry Thomas...
the photographer
Atlanta, Georgia USA
www.TerryThomasPhotos.com
couldn't people just reuse the mercury indefinitely?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat's a good use. My mind went space-ward too. However, I did not think of Klingon space trade.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this2003? This is 2009, what about something a little more current?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLet man kind use his vaunted intelect, and power of greed and find a way to turn the entire tonnage into Gold...if successful the price of gold will probably drop tp "0" for the first time in centuries ruining the financial sector for good.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisnosomething at 07:48 PM on 07/27/09
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell nosomething , you are right , it may leak from our amalgam fillings.
My Dentist said it would somewhere around 10,000 years after they get put in our unsuspecting teeth.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMERCURY FREE PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPS DRAFT OF GROUNDBREAKING LEGISLATION TO KEEP AIR AND WATER CLEAN
Communities and Individuals Form Coalition Focused on Mercury Reduction within
Broad Environmental Policy
September 9, 2009The Mercury Free Partnership has developed a draft of legislation which would reduce 90% of harmful mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, the largest emitter of mercury in the United States. This draft, called the Mercury Reduction Act of 2009, would target coal-fired plants which emit more than 100,000 pounds of mercury into the air each year. In fact, the EPA estimates that about 250 pounds of mercury are currently pumped out of U.S. coal-fired plants into the atmosphere every single day, contaminating our nations air and water supplies. Contamination not only poses a multitude of health risks to extremely vulnerable citizens, but it also significantly affects the economic interests of related industries. This is an important initiative because so much attention has been focused on global climate change; what has to be realized is that immediate mercury reduction alone would significantly enhance environmental and health benefits in our world. The purpose of this draft is to initiate dialogue with all concerned stakeholders in order to develop a finalized piece of legislation.
The Mercury Free Partnership believes that the new administration will be taking the necessary steps to curb various industrial emissions and ensure that citizens are protected from many harmful chemicals produced by the market. To make certain that mercury emissions are not swept under the rug in this crucial time period, the Mercury Free Partnership will focus on engaging Congress to work on delivering sensible mercury reduction legislation in the coming session. This can be done with new green technologies that will save lives, create jobs and build momentum for comprehensive environmental change.
The Proposed Legislative Principles of the Mercury Reduction Act of 2009
The key elements of the proposal are as follows:
Actually, the space-disposal idea sounds like it could be viable. Just load it into the payload section of a rocket (any decommissioned ICBMs kicking around?) and launch it on a trajectory that takes it into the Sun.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisany decommissioned ICBMs kicking around?-Paulimp.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisICBM's aren't big enough to go to the sun.
It would be too risky to send the stuff up in a rocket anyway. The environmental damage it would do if the rocket blew up would be enormous.