ENVIRONMENT DAY: Radioactive Oil, Fertilisers and Tobacco
Emissions of radioactive materials from the burning of fossil fuels and the production of chemical fertilisers are another reason to come up with sustainable alternatives, experts say.
Large-scale treatment of raw materials that contain naturally occurring radioactive material can lead to the concentration of radiation in products or waste, as in the case of the production of artificial phosphate fertilisers as well as oil and gas.
The Fukushima nuclear plant disaster caused by the Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan has heightened global awareness on the dangers of nuclear energy, and has awakened new concern about all sources of radiation ahead of World Environment Day, celebrated Jun. 5.
Combustion of oil, natural gas and coal — Mexico's chief sources of energy — releases into the atmosphere radon-220 and 222, lead-210, polonium-210, radium-226 and 228, thorium-232 and uranium-238. However, there are few studies on the effects of these radionuclides on the environment and human health.
'Little is known about the effect of these emissions,' Miguel Medina, a member of the Academy of Engineering of Mexico, a non-profit association that brings together professionals and academics, told IPS. 'Coal has the strongest effects. And it is nearly impossible to remove the uranium.'
In this country, 93 percent of power comes from fossil fuels. Mexico also releases into the atmosphere around 710 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, mainly from power generation and the transport sector. The state oil monopoly Pemex extracts 2.5 million barrels of crude and 6.8 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
The state-owned power company CFE operates three coal-fired power plants that generate 678 of the 52,000 megawatts produced in the country. The generation of one gigawatt of electricity produced by burning coal releases some 5,000 tons of uranium and 8,000 tons of thorium into the environment, according to scientific researcher Murdoch Baxter, director of the Marine Environment Laboratories of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1990 to 1997.
'The contribution of fossil fuels to the increase in naturally occurring radioactivity is well-known, although it is perhaps not understood yet in all its magnitude,' Baxter, founder of the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, wrote in a 1993 article on industry's impact on environmental radioactivity.
The Mexican government of conservative President Felipe Calderón voluntarily agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 million tons by 2012. But CFE will require 25.6 million tons of coal by 2024, and the three coal-fired plants release some 20 million tons of carbon dioxide a year.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service