Abstract
The tailings pond at Sillamäe is contained by a dam located 30 to 50 meters from the waters of the Baltic Sea, which provide intense erosional pressure. The tailings pond was begun in the 1950s, at which time the height of the dam was 12 m. It has been increased since then to 25 m. The apparently relatively unplanned buildup of the dam and a lack of maintenance have led to a decrease in the stability of the dam. In the worst case, the dam could fail and release the chemically and radioactively hazardous tailings into the sea. Estonian, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish specialists have investigated various aspects of the dam’s stability. This paper summarizes their findings and makes recommendations for further work.
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References
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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Mets, M., Torns, H. (2000). Stability of the Dam at the Sillamäe Tailings Pond. In: Rofer, C.K., Kaasik, T. (eds) Turning a Problem into a Resource: Remediation and Waste Management at the Sillamäe Site, Estonia. NATO Science Series, vol 28. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4092-8_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-4092-8_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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