Radioactive by-products used in house bricks

Bricks made from bauxite residue from Alcoa's alumina processing plant at Kwinana, Western Australia, have been used to build homes in the South-West of Western Australia, according to a report in The West Australian, 1 February 2002.

The use of waste bauxite residue was trialled in a test building in the early 1980s. However, the Health Department rejected the building after tests registered radioactivity readings which bordered on the maximum acceptable radiation exposure levels for 19 hours a day. The residue contained radioactive thorium and uranium.

The Health Department's acting director of environmental health, Brian Devine, said that following the 1983 tests, the department would be concerned if any houses were built with the bricks.

The West Australian was advised by sources close to Midland Brick, which produced the red sand bricks, that at least three homes were built using the bricks, most likely at Waroona. The former general manager said the company made a batch of bricks with the red mud from Alcoa.

A document obtained by The West Australian shows senior Alcoa employees admitting to a 1998 community meeting that the red mud stockpiles near the Kwinana plant exceeded occupational radioactivity limits. Alcoa environmental manager Graham Slessar said that this was wrong.

The leading article in the March-April edition of The Australian Fluoridation News will report on fluoride air pollution from Alcoa's Western Australia alumina plants, including radioactive waste.