title: Radiological characterization of clay mixed red mud in particular as regards its leaching features.
abstract: The reuse of industrial by-products such as red mud is of great importance. In the case of the building material industry the reuse of red mud requires a cautious attitude, since the enhanced radionuclide content of red mud can have an effect on human health. The natural radionuclide content of red mud from the Ajka red mud reservoir and the clay sample from a Hungarian brick factory were determined by gamma spectrometry. It was found that maximum 27.8% red mud content can be added to fulfil the conditions of the EU-BSS. The effect of heat treatment was investigated on a red mud-clay mixture and it was found that in the case of radon and thoron exhalation the applied heat reduced remarkably the exhalation capacities. The leaching features of red mud and different mixtures were studied according to the MSZ-21470-50 Hungarian standard, the British CEN/TS 14429 standard and the Tessier sequential extraction method. The Tessier method and the MSZ-21470-50 standard are suitable for the characterization of materials; however, they do not provide enough information for waste deposition purposes. To this end, we propose using the CEN/TS 14429 method, because it is easy to use, and gives detailed information about the material's behaviour under different pH conditions, however, further measurements are necessary.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiochemistry and Radioecology, University of Pannonia, 10 Egyetem str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary.
authors.forename: Miklós
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hegedűs
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiochemistry and Radioecology, University of Pannonia, 10 Egyetem str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary.
authors.forename: Zoltán
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Sas
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiochemistry and Radioecology, University of Pannonia, 10 Egyetem str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary.
authors.forename: Edit
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tóth-Bodrogi
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiochemistry and Radioecology, University of Pannonia, 10 Egyetem str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary; Social Organisation for Radioecological Cleanliness, 7/a József Attila str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary.
authors.forename: Tamás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Szántó
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiochemistry and Radioecology, University of Pannonia, 10 Egyetem str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary.
authors.forename: János
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Somlai
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiochemistry and Radioecology, University of Pannonia, 10 Egyetem str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary; Social Organisation for Radioecological Cleanliness, 7/a József Attila str., H-8200 Veszprém, Hungary. Electronic address: kt@almos.uni-pannon.hu.
authors.forename: Tibor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kovács
mesh_terms: D000538:Aluminum Silicates / Q000737:chemistry*; D000077215:Clay; D003252:Construction Materials; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D000538:Aluminum Silicates; D007220:Industrial Waste; D011868:Radioisotopes; D000077215:Clay
keywords: Alpha spectrometry; Building material industry; By-product; Gamma spectrometry; Leaching; Radon exhalation; Red mud