Danube Limestone

Donaukalk is the regionally used name for a product that is created during the necessary treatment of the cooling water taken from the Danube for the cooling towers of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant and that is used as a fertilizer in agriculture .

Emergence

The water that evaporates in the cooling tower of the Gundremmingen C nuclear power plant (Unit B has been shut down since the end of 2017) is taken from the nearby Danube. Before it can be used, the water must be treated to prevent damage to the pipeline system. The decarbonization takes place through the addition of milk of lime . In this process, the water softening approximately 50,000 tons annually Rückstandskalk from the Danube water precipitated , in the region around Gundremmingen Donaukalk is called.

use

Danube lime on a field in the Günzburg district

For several decades, the Danube lime has been given free of charge to agricultural machinery and operating aid rings in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant. These distribute the lime to their members for a small contribution towards transport costs, especially to farmers in the districts of Günzburg , Neu-Ulm and Dillingen , who use the product as a high-quality fertilizer to improve their agricultural land (see: Liming ). The lime fertilizer is delivered by truck and tipped at the edge of the arable land. Especially in spring, the colored piles characterize the landscape.

Due to its composition Donaukalk is also fundamentally re-filling of lakes or for disposal at a landfill suitable.

Appearance and consistency

Danube lime close-up

The Danube limestone has a light ocher yellow color and a fine-grained , cohesive consistency .

Chemical composition

The in-house laboratory regularly analyzes the Danube limestone. According to the operating company Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen GmbH (KGG) , the lime is composed as follows:

60-65 percent calcium carbonate
30–35 percent residual moisture
5–10 percent fine sand and suspended matter from the Danube
1 percent magnesium

Nitrogen , phosphorus and potassium together make up less than 0.3 percent.

Hazardousness and limit values

The Danube limestone is harmless to health and not radioactively contaminated . The product complies with the requirements of the Fertilizer Ordinance .

Web links

Article by Bärbel Schoen: Free fertilizer from the nuclear power plant , Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, June 12, 2012

Individual evidence

↑ Article in: more knowledge about electricity and nuclear energy , magazine of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant, edition: September 2009 / No. 111, pp. 4-5.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bärbel Schoen: Free fertilizer from the nuclear power plant , Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, June 12, 2012.
↑ Reference to these values in a study by DIEZ / 1991 in: Combination of agricultural and commercial activity - forms, opportunities, obstacles , Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, series of publications, volume 12, p. 77.
↑ ^a ^b Written request from MP Christine Kamm BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN of September 28, 2010 to the Bavarian State Parliament: Printed matter 16/6297 of December 8, 2010.

[1] Article in: more knowledge about electricity and nuclear energy , magazine of the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant, edition: September 2009 / No. 111, pp. 4-5.

[A-2] Bärbel Schoen: Free fertilizer from the nuclear power plant , Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, June 12, 2012.

[3] Reference to these values in a study by DIEZ / 1991 in: Combination of agricultural and commercial activity - forms, opportunities, obstacles , Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank, series of publications, volume 12, p. 77.

[B-4] Written request from MP Christine Kamm BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN of September 28, 2010 to the Bavarian State Parliament: Printed matter 16/6297 of December 8, 2010.