Sites in the Republic of Slovenia Polluted by Heavy Metals: Strategy and Actions Planned in the Area Branko Druzina University of Ljubljana
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy Volume 12 Article 12 January 2010 Sites In The Republic Of Slovenia Polluted By Heavy Metals: Strategy And Actions Planned In The Area Branko Druzina University of Ljubljana Andrej Perc E-NET Environment Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/soilsproceedings Recommended Citation Druzina, Branko and Perc, Andrej (2010) "Sites In The Republic Of Slovenia Polluted By Heavy Metals: Strategy And Actions Planned In The Area," Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy: Vol. 12 , Article 12. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/soilsproceedings/vol12/iss1/12 This Conference Proceeding is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Druzina and Perc: Sites In The Republic Of Slovenia Polluted By Heavy Metals Chapter 11 SITES IN THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA POLLUTED BY HEAVY METALS: STRATEGY AND ACTIONS PLANNED IN THE AREA Branko Druzina1 and Andrej Perc2 1University College for Health Care, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; 2E-NET Environment, Ljubljana, Slovenia Abstract: In the Republic of Slovenia there are five large sites polluted with heavy metals. The largest one is the waste disposal site of a lead and zinc mine in the northern part of the country, Next in size is the waste and tailings disposal site of the worlds second largest mercury mine. Both mines are now closed. The other three sites are smaller than those described above. They are as follows: the tailings disposal site of a uranium mine; the waste disposal site of an ironworks; and the waste disposal site of an aluminum processing plant. The article will present up-to-date data on the quantities of disposed wastes as well as measurements of some parameters connected with harmful effects on the environment and human health. Hazardous heavy metals from mines are monitored in the soil, flowing waters, groundwater and in the air. In some cases they are also monitored in some vegetables and human tissues and organs. The results of blood analysis for the content of heavy metals for mine workers and general population will be presented for two mining towns. On the largest sites, i.e. the waste disposal site of the lead and zinc mine and the waste disposal site of the mercury mine, some remediation activities are in progress. The results will be presented in graphs and tables. Key words: Republic of Slovenia, heavy metals, polluted sites, disposed waste, measurements. 1. INTRODUCTION In the Republic of Slovenia, with a surface area of over 20,000 km2, there are five larger sites with increased levels of heavy metal pollution. This condition is the result of heavy metal mines or heavy metal processing at all five sites as follows: the waste disposal site of the lead and zinc mine at Mezica; the waste and tailings disposal site of the mercury mine in Idrija; the tailings disposal site of the uranium mine at Zirovski Vrh; the waste disposal site of the Jesenice ironworks; and the waste disposal site of the aluminium processing plant in Kidricevo. In addition to these sites, there are another ten disposal sites containing waste from industries that are partly unregulated and represent a severe burden for the environment. These waste disposal sites are filled with various kinds of waste materials originating from various industrial branches. In these waste disposal sites measurements of leaching and measurements of emissions into the air are performed. In Slovenia, there is only one regulated active waste disposal site of harmful and hazardous waste materials. This is Metava in Maribor. In addition to the active waste disposal sites there exists also a series of waste disposal sites that have arisen because of inadequate disposal of waste materials from industry in the period from 1950 to 1990. These waste disposal sites are: the disposal sites of acid tar in Pesnica, Studenci and Bohova near Maribor; the disposal site of industrial waste materials Globovnik near Ilirska Bistrica; the disposal site of red mud and ashes from the aluminium processing plant in Kidricevo; the disposal site of waste casting sands in Crnomelj, the area contaminated with PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the surroundings of Semic. This article presents data on the quantity of disposed waste at these sites, heavy metal concentrations in the waste, migration of these metals into the environment and the detected harmful Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2007 Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy, Vol. 12 [2007], Art. 12 120 Contaminated Soils-Heavy Metals effects on humans. Values of individual monitoring parameters measured in each of these components of the environment are presented in the form of tables. The evaluation of values of the measured parameters corresponds to the maximum allowable quantities of these substances in the environment according to Slovenian legislation. 2. FIVE SITES POLLUTED WITH HEAVY METALS The five sites polluted with heavy metals Figure 1 developed through the long centuries or decades respectively of the operation of mines and/or metal foundries: The mercury mine in Idrija operated for more than 500 years, the zinc and lead mine in Meica for more than 300 years, the ironworks in Jesenica for more than 200 years. Therefore there are several disposal sites around these locations. In the past, the dumping of waste materials was spontaneous and occurred where some land was at disposal. The five disposal sites were unregulated and unprotected. With meteoric water metals washed away from the tailings and wastes, today it is recognized that a huge quantity of mercury from the disposal site of tailings near the the mercury mine in Idrija has migrated to the Adriatic Sea. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/soilsproceedings/vol12/iss1/12 Druzina and Perc: Sites In The Republic Of Slovenia Polluted By Heavy Metals Sites in the Republic of Slovenia Polluted By Heavy Metals: Strategy and Actions Planned… 121 Figure 1. The five sites polluted with heavy metals 2.1 Waste Disposal Site of the Lead and Zinc Mine at Mezica Tailing dumps represent a great burden for the environment because of their number and size. Tailing was dumped into valleys and partly on the slopes in the vicinity of the mine. These tailing dumps are not planned; there are 31 of them in the mine area, spreading over 100 km2. The estimated amount of tailing is around 20 million tons; the dump area is around 400,000 m2. The tailing represents carbon material (mainly limestone and dolomite) with traces of ore and metal remains the lead content is up to 3.8 %, zinc from 0.65 % to 7.7 %. The dump area is full of water, with numerous streams and springs, and even drinking water sources, as is evident from Table 1 (Presecnik, 2003). Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2007 Proceedings of the Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy, Vol. 12 [2007], Art. 12 122 Contaminated Soils-Heavy Metals The content of heavy metals in mine-waste landfills is continuously measured in tailings and leachate, and the content of natural radionuclides are periodically checked in tailings (uranium, radium, thorium). At the Mezica mine, waste was created at first only because of extraction and the processing of ore in the smelting plant. After 1965, waste was also created as a result of the manufacturing of lead used in lead batteries. After 1989, the creation of waste was only the result of processing secondary materials. According to Slovenian legislation, waste is dangerous if the values of zinc exceed 10,000 mg/kg; that is why seven of the old dumps are categorized as dumps with hazardous waste, and it is thus necessary to analyze out-going fluids constantly. According to data about the production of refined lead and the amount of created waste (scoria, gypsum, brick, hard rubber which amounts to about 5,763 tons of waste from 15,000 tons of pure lead) in the old dumps, it was calculated to be about 20 millions tons of waste At that time, tailings were used for several purposes. Because of the appropriate grange and structure of the material, people removed it and used it for filling up sinking in the mine or even in construction of residential housing, for maintaining roads, etc. Usage of this material was the cause for analyses of contamination by natural radionuclides. Due to the dolomite basis, the content of radionuclides in tailings is relatively low, as shown in Table 2. Table 1. Zinc content in old dumps in the mine area Name % LeAd % Zinc Zerjavska halda 0.85 3.24 Stoparjeva halda 0.80 2.86 Andrejeva in Lukrecija halda 0.66 0.56 Halda na Zackovih peskih 3.84 7.67 Hildegardina halda 1.12 4.45 Terezija halda 1.95 3.96 Terezija podkop halda 1.95 3.96 Srce halda 1.35 3.17 Fridrih halda 1.0 2.0 Igrceva halda 1.0 2.0 Kavsakova halda 0.15 0.65 Table 2. Content of radionuclides in tailings Location 226Ra (Bq/kg) 238U (Bq/kg) 232Th (Bq/kg) 40K (Bq/kg) Separation Zerjav 10 10 1-3 10 Tailing Kavsak 10 10 1-3 10 Pit Topla below Peca 30 30 4 74 Scoria from Zerjav 6 6 2.8 25 2.2 Rehabilitation Program for Closure of the Mezica Mine With the adoption of the Gradual Mine Closure Act (the Act Ensuring Part of the Funds Necessary for the Gradual Closure of the Meica Lead and Zinc Mine, Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia No 5/88) mining operations started to be wound up.