Fly ash flood covers acres

[kpete]

Source: KnoxNews

Fly ash flood covers acres
TVA pond breach damages homes by Harriman plant

By Chloe White (Contact)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A retention pond wall collapsed early this morning at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston steam plant, releasing a mixture of water and fly ash that flooded 12 homes and derailed a train.

HARRIMAN - Workers face "several weeks' worth of work" to clean up 2.6 million cubic yards of fly ash dumped across hundreds of acres after a retention pond collapsed early Monday morning at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston steam plant.

No injuries have been reported, but one house was swept off of its foundation and onto the road, and huge piles of a mixture of water, mud and ash covered Swan Pond Road in Roane County.

"We've got a mess," said Tom Hamby of the Roane County Highway Department. "The problem is, you don't know what's under this stuff."

Officials say up to 400 acres of land adjacent to the plant are under 4 to 6 feet of material. An initial estimate projected that 2.6 million cubic yards of fly ash were released, said Laura Niles, an Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman in Atlanta. Niles said the pond is reported to contain more than 40 million gallons of water, but she said that was an initial report. She added that the agency doesn't know how much water was actually released.

Read more: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2008/dec/23/fly-ash-flood-covers-acres/

[atreides1]

1. How Odd

Didn't the TVA just raise rates by 20% and then gave a raise to their president and CEO?

Maybe they should have used that extra money for their own infrastructure?

[truthisfreedom]

2. What a nightmare.

Augh, can you imagine?

[mcg]

3. Fly ash (Wikipedia)

I had to look this up to find out what is fly ash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_ash

[dhill926]

4. me too....

thought it was southern for flash flood....

[Ilsa]

6. Thanks for the link. I guess it is true that there is no such thing as "clean coal." nt

[awoke_in_2003]

7. No, there isn't...

and even if there was, it could only be gotten 2 ways- sending people into mountains to get it or blowing the tops off the mountains. Neither one of these are really good.

[Tab]

5. What the hell is "fly ash"?

??

[Tesha]

8. The minerals that remain after you've burnt all the carbon out of coal. (NT)

[xxqqqzme]

9. From the wikipedia link supplied above,

"...Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal. Fly ash is generally captured from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants, whereas bottom ash is removed from the bottom of the furnace. In the past, fly ash was generally released into the atmosphere, but pollution control equipment mandated in recent decades now require that it be captured prior to release. In the US, it is generally stored at the power plant. Depending upon the source and makeup of the coal being burned, the components of the fly ash produced vary considerably, but all fly ash includes substantial amounts of silicon dioxide (SiO2) (both amorphous and crystalline) and calcium oxide (CaO). Fly ash is commonly used to supplement Portland cement in concrete production, where it can bring both technological and economic benefits, and is increasingly finding use in the synthesis of geopolymers and zeolites..."...

[Gman]

10. Where's the standard "There's no threat to the public" statement?

Someone fell down on the PR job.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

11. Huge fish kill reported.

[Ian David]

12. Thank you, Bush! Thank you! Heckuva job! n/t

[Duranda1]

13. THis is ALWAYS a problem with fly ash...

There was a small break at the retention MOUND up here, east
of Cincinnati last spring/early summer.  Its owned by DULE
Power in this case.  Their fly ash landfill at the other local
power plant, Miami Fort, is leaking into the Miami River
across farm land.

No one will look at this stuff though.  

EPA claims the stuff is sort of safe and not toxic (anything
bad they take out of the smoke for cleaner air IS in the fly
ash and also includes silicon dioxide).  With the collapse of
large of amounts of construction they no longer have a place
to put it (drywall, concrete board, and/or concrete
additives).  The EPA has used the material in their Gold and
SIlver Leed building projects.

Its a politically charged thing.  Few people know about it and
there is an entire industry out there designed to tell us how
safe and fantastic it is and can be used in almost anything,
from building materials to fertilizers.

Bad stuff.

Some more links...

http://www.duke-energy.com/news/cinergy_archive/3926_373035.htm

[alfredo]

14. Union Carbide in Louisville Ky carbide impound let go. It destroyed a

neighborhood.