...Health and Environmental Risks (click here)
Incineration does not destroy metals or reduce radioactivity of wastes. Radioactive waste incinerators, when equipped with well-maintained, high efficiency filters, can capture all but a small fraction of the radioactive isotopes and metals fed into them. The fraction that does escape, however, tends to be in the form of small particles that are more readily absorbed by living organisms than larger particles.
Incinerators, like many combustion devices such as automobile engines, convert combustible materials mainly to carbon dioxide and water (steam). But they generally also create toxic by-products, known as "products of incomplete combustion" or (PICs). PICs can be more toxic per unit weight than the original wastes. The total quantity and toxicity of PICs from incinerators is highly uncertain(1). The most widely-studied toxic PICs are known as dioxins....
One might recall the Moscow Wildfires that are reported to have killed 50,000 people. The picture above and the article below explore the possibility of radioactive incineration of areas contaminated by Chernobyl..
