Assessment of contamination by rocket fuel components of remedied sites of silo launchers

Author(s):  
Olga N. Semenova ◽  
Tatyana V. Ryabova ◽  
Olga M. Hudyakova ◽  
Svetlana V. Smirnova

Introduction. The use of highly toxic and highly hazardous components of liquid rocket fuel in silo-based intercontinental ballistic missiles makes it necessary to assure the health and epidemiological well-being of the population and environmental safety when eliminating silo launchers. The study aims to assess the chemical safety of the sites of silo launchers after their elimination by detonation and remediation of disturbed lands. Materials and methods. Samples of soil, water, vegetation were taken at 20 remedied sites of the former silo launchers of "single start" located in the Chelyabinsk region and the Altai Territory. These samples were analyzed in an accredited laboratory for the content of unsymmetrical dimethyl-hydrazine and its degradation products using certified photometric methods. Results. At the time of the survey in 2019, in 19 of 20 sites of former silo launchers, facts of unauthorized intrusion to the remedied sites were established in order to recover a scrap of non-ferrous and ferrous metals, building materials up to the depth of the location of the destroyed shafts of mine structures. In soil samples from 3 sites of silo launchers located in the Chelyabinsk region, asymmetric dimethyl-hydrazine was found in concentrations exceeding the MPC by 1.02 - 1.6 times. In water samples from open and water-flooded shafts of silo launchers, degradation products of unsymmetrical dimethyl-hydrazine were absent. Contamination of herbaceous and coniferous vegetation with asymmetric dimethyl-hydrazine at the surveyed sites has not been established. Conclusion. Soil contamination with asymmetric dimethyl-hydrazine at three remedied sites of 20 surveyed ones may be the result of their unauthorized opening. After the intrusion, the orphan sites of the silo launchers become objects of increased chemical hazard and environmental risk. Such things require carrying out nature restoration work, strengthening supervision over their technical, health and ecological condition.

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 94-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Yur'evna ZHIGULINA ◽  
Natalya Genrikhovna CHUMACHENKO

The article is devoted to problems of creation of comfortable microclimate. Identifi es sources of pollution, completed their evaluation. Special att ention is paid to the selection of environmentally friendly building materials. In the production of building materials where toxic components can be industrial waste, replacing natural raw materials and chemical additives regulating the properties. In the operation of many building materials, especially those based on polymers, it is necessary to control the release of toxic substances resulting from degradation. For the assessment of comfort and environmental safety of housing is offered to create «Passports of residential buildings», which should be provided with information about construction materials used to evaluate this parameter, environmental home safety, including chemical safety as its component.


2020 ◽  
Vol 786 (11) ◽  
pp. 41-46
Author(s):  
V.V. STROKOVA ◽  
◽  
V.V. NELUBOVA ◽  
M.N. SIVALNEVA ◽  
M.D. RYKUNOVA ◽  
...  

The dynamic development of urbanization contributes to an increase in emissions of industrial waste, which is the cause dysfunction of the ecosystem balance and leads to the development of biological corrosion on building materials associated with the products of the vital activity of microorganisms. In this regard, it is necessary to assess the resistance of composites to predict the durability of building structures under conditions of biological influence of microorganisms. Binder systems of various compositions were studied: cementless nanostructured binders (NB) based on quartz sand and granodiorite, gypsum, Portland cement and alumina cement. The toxicity of binders was assessed by biotesting on living organisms – cladocerans Daphnia Magna – according to the criteria of the intensity of their growth and viability. As a result, the high environmental safety of NB is substantiated, and the ranking of the studied binders according to the degree of increase in their toxicity to test objects is presented. Fungal resistance was assessed by the ability of molds for growing and reproduction on the studied samples. It was found that the most active in terms of the development of binders were representatives of the genus Aspergillus, the intensity of growing of which in all variants did not decrease below 3 points. Gypsum and NB were especially vulnerable, where the degree of fouling repeatedly reached 5 points. Even the initially biostable cement, after the aging process, lost its stability at different extent. The obtained results indicate the need to increase the resistance of composites for various purposes under conditions of biocorrosion at the stage of design and updating of regulatory documents, including tests for fungal resistance in the list of mandatory.


Author(s):  
Ioannis Souliotis ◽  
Nikolaos Voulvoulis

AbstractThe EU Water Framework Directive requires the development of management responses aimed towards improving water quality as a result of improving ecosystem health (system state). Ecosystems have potential to supply a range of services that are of fundamental importance to human well-being, health, livelihoods and survival, and their capacity to supply these services depends on the ecosystem condition (its structure and processes). According to the WFD, Programmes of Measures should be developed to improve overall water status by reducing anthropogenic catchment pressures to levels compatible with the achievement of the ecological objectives of the directive, and when designed and implemented properly should improve the ecological condition of aquatic ecosystems that the delivery of ecosystem services depends on. Monitoring and evaluation of implemented measures are crucial for assessing their effectiveness and creating the agenda for consecutive planning cycles. Considering the challenges of achieving water status improvements, and the difficulties of communicating these to the wider public, we develop a framework for the evaluation of measures cost-effectiveness that considers ecosystem services as the benefits from the reduction of pressures on water bodies. We demonstrate its application through a case study and discuss its potential to facilitate the economic analysis required by the directive, and that most European water authorities had problems with. Findings demonstrate the potential of the methodology to effectively incorporate ecosystem services in the assessment of costs and benefits of proposed actions, as well as its potential to engage stakeholders.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Chalmpes ◽  
Athanasios B. Bourlinos ◽  
Smita Talande ◽  
Aristides Bakandritsos ◽  
Dimitrios Moschovas ◽  
...  

In hypergolics two substances ignite spontaneously upon contact without external aid. Although the concept mostly applies to rocket fuels and propellants, it is only recently that hypergolics has been recognized from our group as a radically new methodology towards carbon materials synthesis. Comparatively to other preparative methods, hypergolics allows the rapid and spontaneous formation of carbon at ambient conditions in an exothermic manner (e.g., the method releases both carbon and energy at room temperature and atmospheric pressure). In an effort to further build upon the idea of hypergolic synthesis, herein we exploit a classic liquid rocket bipropellant composed of furfuryl alcohol and fuming nitric acid to prepare carbon nanosheets by simply mixing the two reagents at ambient conditions. Furfuryl alcohol served as the carbon source while fuming nitric acid as a strong oxidizer. On ignition the temperature is raised high enough to induce carbonization in a sort of in-situ pyrolytic process. Simultaneously, the released energy was directly converted into useful work, such as heating a liquid to boiling or placing Crookes radiometer into motion. Apart from its value as a new synthesis approach in materials science, carbon from rocket fuel additionally provides a practical way in processing rocket fuel waste or disposed rocket fuels.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Matthias Richter ◽  
Wolfgang Horn ◽  
Elevtheria Juritsch ◽  
Andrea Klinge ◽  
Leon Radeljic ◽  
...  

Indoor air quality can be adversely affected by emissions from building materials, consequently having a negative impact on human health and well-being. In this study, more than 30 natural building materials (earth dry boards and plasters, bio-based insulation materials, and boards made of wood, flax, reed, straw, etc.) used for interior works were investigated as to their emissions of (semi-)volatile organic compounds ((S)VOC), formaldehyde, and radon. The study focused on the emissions from complete wall build-ups as they can be used for internal partition walls and the internal insulation of external walls. Test chambers were designed, allowing the compounds to release only from the surface of the material facing indoors under testing parameters that were chosen to simulate model room conditions. The emission test results were evaluated using the AgBB evaluation scheme, a procedure for the health-related evaluation of construction products and currently applied for the approval of specific groups of building materials in Germany. Seventeen out of 19 sample build-ups tested in this study would have passed this scheme since they generally proved to be low-emitting and although the combined emissions of multiple materials were tested, 50% of the measurements could be terminated before half of the total testing time.


2013 ◽  
Vol 448-453 ◽  
pp. 209-212
Author(s):  
Bo Tuo Jiang ◽  
Yan Qiang Jia ◽  
Xiao Long Xing ◽  
Xu Zhang

The importance of chemical products in todays society is known, which can increase food production, improve the quality of life and extend the lifespan. However, their dangers are also obvious. In addition, a large number of chemical accidents, that produce chemicals, continue to take place in the chemical industries in spite of the great improvement in the safety management standard of worldwide chemical industries. Such accidents are taking place not only in the developing countries, but also in developed countries, which result in a lot of property loss, death and serious environmental issues with long term negative effects. Therefore, how to live with these substances and how to handle, use and dispose them safely have attracted much attention because chemical safety and risk management of chemicals have formed an international challenge.


2021 ◽  
Vol 02 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pernille D. Pedersen ◽  
Nina Lock ◽  
Henrik Jensen

: The NOx gasses (NO and NO2) are among the most important air pollutants, due to the toxicity of NO2, as well as the role of NOx in the tropospheric oxidation of Volatile Organic Carbons (VOCs), contributing to the formation of other hazardous air pollutants. Air pollution is one of the biggest health threats world-wide, hence reducing NOx levels is an important objective of the UN sustainable development goals, e.g. #3, “Good health and well-being” and #11 “Sustainable cities and communities”. Photocatalysis using TiO2 and light is a promising technique for removing NOx along with other pollutants, as demonstrated on laboratory scale. Furthermore, a long range of real-life test studies of varying scales have been conducted during the past two decades. The results of these studies have been conflicting, with some studies reporting no effect on the ambient air quality and others reporting significant reductions of NOx level. However, the studies are very difficult to compare and assess due to the very different approaches used, which consequently vary in quality. In this review, we aim to develop a set of objective evaluation criteria to assess the quality of the individual studies in order to simplify the interpretation and comparison of the existing studies. Moreover, we propose some guidelines for future test-studies. Furthermore, the approaches and main conclusions from 23 studies are independently assessed and discussed herein.


Author(s):  
L. V. Verzunova ◽  

The collection includes articles based on the reports of scientists of the K. A. Timiryazev RGAU-MSHA, other universities and research institutions at the International Scientific Conference dedicated to the 155th anniversary of the K. A. Timiryazev RGAU-MSHA, which was held on December 2-4, 2020. The materials are presented on topical issues: land reclamation, reclamation, land protection and water supply, water resources management, hydraulic structures on hydro-reclamation systems; civil, industrial and agro-industrial construction, expertise and evaluation of industrial, civil buildings and building materials science; technosphere and environmental safety; reclamation and construction machines; information technologies in the agro-industrial complex; development of sheep and goat breeding in modern conditions; veterinary medicine and safety of livestock products, technologies for the production of feed and full nutrition of animals, biology, private zootechny; beekeeping and aquaculture.


space&FORM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (47) ◽  
pp. 31-44
Author(s):  
Jan Cudzik ◽  
◽  
Konstancja Olszewska ◽  

Nowadays, finding natural substitutes for mass-produced materials is one of the main tasks faced by scientists and designers. There is an increasing emphasis on the theme of ecology and the need for sustainability. Variants and methods are sought which will create environmentally friendly materials in a fast, relatively inexpensive and ecological way. The aim of this paper is to present different proposals of natural building materials and to demonstrate the research process in the search for an environmentally friendly facade material, analyzing it in terms of strength, durability and aesthetics. One of the reasons for this is the steadily deteriorating environmental conditions. Thus, architects strive to improve environmental safety.


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