Soil becomes radioactive

dsfsdfsdf

Small, but with great radiation power: if a larger particle accidentally gets in, small radiation zones are created.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, honeypicture )

They are small lumps of waste containing uranium and radium: Embedded in asphalt, they form small but all the more intense radioactive areas. Toxic gas also escapes at break points. It was a coincidence that put a Lower Austrian on the trail - the "Krone" has the story and his research evidence. 

The waste product of fertilizer production is added to asphalt to save costs. In other words: The residual material mixed with radiant radium was apparently "disposed of" cheaply by a company as part of a road renovation project with little effort.

Suddenly the dosimeter went off - in the middle of the city. Great uproar: what is it that is sending a dangerous dose of radioactive radiation up from underground? The intensity was so high that the town hall had lead plates laid on the mysterious radiation point. After digging up the spot, the surprise: the radioactivity came from a single medium-sized grain - phosphogypsum, which had apparently slipped through the crushing machine and was fully radiant.

New Year's Eve walk was the cause of the bang on New Year's Day
It happened four years ago in the German state of Thuringia, and then the asphalt incident grew out of control. After all, the building material is manufactured by financially strong producer groups, demand is high, there is a lot of research and little questioning of new developments.

We investigated the mysterious matter again with a calibrated measuring device - right across the city. The Geiger counter failed several times: We even measured the maximum value near the entrance to the elementary school.

Der Göllersdorfer „Krone“-Leser – er ist vierfacher Vater

In this country, pollution was not yet an issue, despite its high level of radiation. Until the day when, by chance, a Lower Austrian discovered the dangerous molecular decay in the asphalt after New Year's Eve.

The guest at a party in Göllersdorf in the district of Hollabrunn noticed that he had accidentally left his company's dosimeter with him. After a tour of the village to watch the fireworks, the disillusionment of the merry new year was followed by a bang: in the memory evaluation of the Geiger counter, the radiation values shot up like a rocket at two points in time.

"We couldn't explain it. So we checked and discovered increased readings at other points too. Especially where there was new asphalt after damage," the man confirms his doubts. After the "Krone" investigated the similar incident in Thuringia, the suspicion that phosphogypsum could also be "disappearing" in the asphalt here was confirmed. 

Asphalt producers keep mixing proportions of their products secret 
In any case, the fact is that 70,000 tons of phosphogypsum are officially imported every year. Even a look at an online directory of purchasing companies does not lead to the end users.

Lump formation increases radiation very much, in contrast to statements
The same applies to the responsible regional authorities, industry spokespersons or road construction experts: they referred to the companies carrying out the work - which in turn referred to their suppliers. Detailed "asphalt recipes" are the result of numerous research projects and are classified information.

No concerns on the other side of the pond: Florida lets you mix
In view of the increasing asphalt mix production of around seven million tons per year in Austria, the citizen of Göllersdorf fears that at some point "American conditions" will spill over the Atlantic: Because in Florida, despite numerous citizen protests, the addition of chlorinated gypsum was approved for the entire state last April.