The landfill from nickel production in Danubian Lowland and its environmental implications

Abstract

The main objective of the paper is to point out to the origin of the waste from the production of nickel at the landfill in Sereď and its physical and chemical properties that affect the environmental conditions of the site. The landfill of metallurgical technological waste in Sereď is the second largest landfill for non-ferrous metallurgy in Slovakia (Central Europe). It is located in the northern part of the Danubian Lowland, southwest of the industrial zone of town Sereď. We divided the research into two phases. The preparatory phase consisted in obtaining all available archival materials for the years 1956−1993, so from of the construction of the plant to the end of production. The production was lasting from 1963 to 1993. The second phase concerned field research and was associated with sludge sampling for laboratory analysis. The results of the analysis identified the physical and chemical properties of the sludge as well as the possibilities of its use in some sectors of the economy. The production process in the nickel smelter was stopped in 1993 due to economic (annual state production subsidy was CZK 250 million) and ecological reasons. The landfill at the city’s industrial zone has remained to this day, but it was sold to a private company in 1994, thus relieving of the state’s liability for environmental damage.