...you'll love the new project TVA is constructing at the site of the massive coal ash spill at a power plant in Tennessee. The agency is building an observation area, according to a story in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.Parking for 20...BYOFM (face mask). Millions of gallons of coal ash spilled on the land and a river when a dam broke. The coal ash they're pulling out of the river and off the surface of the earth is being transported to a commercial landfill near Uniontown, Alabama.
Okay... sure, no one likes this stuff, or the problems that improper storage has thus far caused - especially YOU, Tim! *LOL* (Can you say NIMBY?)
ReplyDeleteAnd doubtless, TVA has their well-deserved criticisms.
However, I wonder amidst those criticisms if there are voices of advocacy?
To wit, why is TVA not selling the fly ash?
A U.S. Geological Survey report stated that "Fly ash is commonly used as an additive to concrete building products, but the radioactivity of typical fly ash is not significantly different from that of more conventional concrete additives or other building materials such as granite or red brick. Radioactive elements in coal and fly ash should not be sources of alarm. The vast majority of coal and the majority of fly ash are not significantly enriched in radioactive elements, or in associated radioactivity, compared to common soils or rocks."
During my time in CA, I witnessed recycling of building materials like I've NEVER seen here in AL. For example, even the concrete bricks, blocks and mortar were ground up to be recycled in the remanufacture of concrete and other masonry products. Smart, eh?
And the Federal Highway and Transportation Administration has found that "Fly ash can be used as a cost-effective mineral filler in hot mix asphalt (HMA) paving applications. Where available locally, fly ash may cost less than other mineral fillers. Also, due to the lower specific gravity of fly ash, similar performance is obtained using less material by weight, further reducing the material cost of HMA. Mineral fillers increase the stiffness of the asphalt mortar matrix, improving the rutting resistance of pavements. Mineral fillers have become more necessary as mixture gradations have become coarser. Asphalt pavements with coarse gradations are increasingly being designed because they perform well under heavy traffic conditions."
In other words, better quality roads at a lower price. Hello, Mayor, City Engineer? Are you listening?
Why couldn't (or wouldn't) TVA sell their product?
As they say;"One man's trash is another man's treasure." More (a few) jobs for Alabamians living near the landfills.
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