Finland Toxic Spill Worst Ever in History
B. McPherson All too often resource extraction promises big bucks but delivers big headaches. Finland is waking up to the realization that they are coping with their worst toxic spill ever. A formerly pristine area of eastern Finland has become fouled by uranium and nickel. Leachate ponds for the Talvivaara Mine have failed and are allowing toxic levels of nickel to spill into nearby waterways. The local health people say that the levels of radiation from the uranium are below levels that would damage health – unless the radioactive material gets into the drinking water supply. That means that people cannot use the water from lakes, streams or rivers in the area for cooking or drinking. Due to the possible impact on skin, it is also recommended that people not use the water in their saunas. The Talvivaara mine is an open pit operation, extracting low grade nickel sulphide. Other metals extracted include copper, zinc and cobalt. The method used is a leaching proce...