From:[Omitted]
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 22:50:22 EST
To: doewatch@onelist.com
Subject: [DOEWatch] TVA-fertilizer-explosives-toxic waste-plant growth-human health
Hi All,
The topic of fertilizers and the mixing of nuclear and heavy metal toxic wastes in them has been in the news in the recent past. From this list we saw that the fertilizer industry and mining are closely related and acid and heavy metals are in fertilizer pits. This happens almost anytime one digs in the ground. Happens with coal, uranium, and fertilizer mining. Even the Health Physics journal carried the issues of uranium in phosphates and other ores and the effects on health.
Phosphate is often a main fertilizer and it has the acids and heavy metals and is even a source for uranium.
TVA using mined coal emits uranium and other metals into the air. TVA was established in 1933 from a dam in Alabama that was used in the manufacture of ammonia nitrate explosives and later fertilizers. 33% ammonium nitrate is a military explosive. TVA at Muscle Shoals, Alabama operated a fertilizer national lab----that experimented in fertilizers. Part of this was the issues of trace metals and health backgrounds.
Oak Ridge has used TVA to get rid of contaminated waste oils from the gasseous diffusion plants. In years previous they tried to plow it into the ground in land farming processes similar to fertilizers. Oak Ridge also knew the issues of fertilizers involved phosphates and uranium contaminations. They also knew the issues of the trace metals were affecting the bone cell health in the populations. Oak Ridge knew that by adding raffinates and other metals contaminations into fertilizers they could raise the health backgrounds from heavy metals exposures over large areas. They also knew TVA had similar problems from emissions as the Oak Ridge plants and would cooperate on the uranium and heavy metals and health problems.
These techniques not only helped hide the air plume footprint of diseases associated to TVA coal plants-----it could help mask the uranium emissions from Oak Ridge plants that were affecting health. They could adjust the background rates of illness in Tenn. and all around the country. Part due to coal air emissions and the heavy metals and part due to the heavy metals in fertilizers. They could literally mask the issues of the heavy metals and cancers tracable to air emissions.
The fertilizer contaminations raise the background of heavy metals in the US food chain and population and make cancers common----as well as immune dysfunction diseases. It evens out the health footprints and hides the uranium problems in Oak Ridge and from coal fired TVA emissions. All this was carefully noticed and crafted in the 80's at ORNL.
Basically, heavy metals need to be removed from or not added to fertilizers as it affects the disease rates and longevity. TVA like Oak Ridge tells half truths on the heavy metals effects in fertilizers. Both Oak Ridge and TVA need to tell the issues on the long retention times of metals in bone and the associated diseases. The public needs to have the full information on this and be involved in the decision processes and not have some Oak Ridge or TVA science person decide these things for them. Especially, when these scientists are intent on coving up some problems involving the health of large areas.
TVA and Oak Ridge are the roots of these bad deceptions of the public and their health.
Some supporting references follow and some related URL's
[Name omitted]
Ref 1:
From the World Book Encyclopedia"TVA, est. 1933 for the purpose of reclaiming the Tennessee river valley AND for the purpose of developing "Good and cheap fertilizers".
"Phosphate fertilizers developed and improved under the TVA program have been tested and demonstrated in more than half the states of the Union".
"The TVA was established after fifteen years of Congressional debate about what was to be done with the government nitrate plant ..." "The TVA Act transfered Wilson Dam and the nitrate plant from the War Department to the TVA."
"The TVA chemical facilites at Muscle Shoals are operated as a national laboratory for research and experimental production of fertilizers. This division developed electric-furnance smelting of phosphate rock to produce elemental phosphorous."
"The TVA even operates the equivalent of an Industrial Materials Exchange program, which match-makes waste from generators to another user."
Ref 2:
From Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary-----"Phosphate Rock---A natural rock consisting largely of calcium phosphate and used as a raw material for manufactire of phosphate fertilizers, phosphoric acid, phopherous, and animal feeds. Recovery of uranium from the manufacture of phosphoric acid and other phosphate chemicals is expected to become an important source of this metal. Important deposits are in US [Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, California, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho]"
Related Internet URL's---
http://www.timesdaily.com/tva.html
http://www.timesdaily.com/mshoals.html
http://www.gcrio.org/OCP/progsum/tva.redcn2o.html
http://www.soils.agri.umn.edu/infoserv/lists /soil- chem/archives/soil-chem-9802/0012.html
http://virtual.chattanooga.net/cita/TVAuthorityAct.html
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02healthlibrary/0203longevitycat/020 302Hlthyhunza /02030204.html
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