Investigations at the former sites of raw phosphate processing in Germany

摘要

Raw phosphates have been processed in an industrial scale in Germany approximately since themiddle of the 19th century. During the centuries, huge amounts of residues with high mass specific activitieshave been accumulated. Within the framework of a historical study, we have determined the accumulatedradionuclide inventory from 1865 to 2005. The consumption amounts to approx. 150 million tons rawphosphates (corresponds to approx. 2.22*10~(14) Bq U-238) with a fraction of national production of approx.1 million tons. A production of approx. 3 million tons of elemental phosphorus (calcium silicate slag: 3.6*10~(13)Bq Ra-226) and approx. 12 million tons of phosphoric acid (phosphogypsum: 2.7*10~(13) Bq Ra-226) had beenachieved. In the next step, we have looked for the former sites with legacies of the raw phosphate processingindustry. 92 sites of former production of phosphate fertilizers, 3 sites of former production of elementalphosphorus and 10 sites of former production of phosphoric acid had been identified. Some of them wereselected for more detailed researches regarding the accumulated radionuclide inventory and on-site/laboratoryradiological investigations.