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the Foskor acid and fertiliser factory in Richards Bay wants to sell off massive supplies of industrial waste for use in building low-cost houses – although the waste emits low levels of radiation.
The factory, found by one-time SA rugby supremo Louis Luyt, has been pumping millions of tons of phosphogypsum and other waste into the sea off Richards Bay for nearly 35 years.
Now the company is trying to find a joint venture partner to invest R116 million to turn the waste into cheap gypsum boards, cement and panels to build low-cost homes. But the company’s advertisement does not mention that the waste contains radioactive materials such as uranium and thorium, nor does it say whether it would pose a danger to people who would occupy the homes.
When The Mercury contacted Foskor, spokeswoman Karen Smith said she understood that the project was in the feasibility stage.
She referred further enquiries to the company’s strategy and new business department. A department spokesman said that concerns about radioactivity would have to be dealt with by the National Nuclear Regulator and the National Home Builders’ Registration Council.
Huge volumes of phosphogypsum have been generated in several parts of the world and the phosphates industry has promoted using this waste as building or roadfill material or fertiliser.
Banned
The US Environmental Protection Agency banned the reuse of the waste in 1989. The ruling was relaxed in 1992 to allow its use as a fertiliser, but only if the level of radiation was lower than 10 picocuries to a gram.
The agency says on its website that phosphogypsum contains small traces of toxic metals and chemicals such as arsenic, lead, fluoride, copper and chromium, which could pose significant health risks.
The levels of radiation and toxic metals in the Foskor waste are not known, but the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has long monitored the effects of pollution that heavy industries dump in the sea off Richards Bay.
The latest CSIR report contains no reference to the monitoring of radiation effects, but a Foskor environmental impact report published in 1998 said the Atomic Energy Corporation had been carrying out radiological hazard studies for several years.
“The results obtained so far (1998)… indicate no harmful build-up of radiation in fish tissues,” it said.
The Foskor factory is majority owned by the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation. Since 1976, it has dumped millions of tons of acid and fertiliser effluent into the Indian Ocean. It also has a large land dump that holds about 15 million tons of phosphogypsum.
Several CSIR studies have flagged Foskor waste as a problem, and the company has acknowledged that dumping large volumes of phosphogypsum in the sea is “not environmentally sustainable”.
The latest CSIR report notes that the toxicity of Foskor gypsum and fluoride effluent exceeds the original pipeline dilution specifications.
