According to The Columbus Dispatch, a recent study suggests that the millions of gallons of fracking waste water, also called brine, trucked into Ohio from Pennsylvania gas wells, may contain high levels of radium– a radioactive element.

One sample, in particular, contained 3,609 times more radioactivity than the federal safety limit for drinking water. The same sample was 300 times more radioactive than a Nuclear Regulatory Commission limit for industrial discharges to water. The sample was taken in 2009.

The waste water trucked into Ohio isn’t put into landfills, it’s injected deep into the ground via deep injection wells.

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State law bans radioactive shale-well sand and sludge from Ohio landfills. However, brine can be sent down any of Ohio’s 171 active disposal wells regardless of how much radium it contains. Michael Snee, the Ohio Department of Health’s radiation-protection chief, said that’s the safest place for brine.“Injection wells are almost the perfect solution for that disposal issue,” Snee said.

It wasn’t long ago when Youngstown rumbled from minor earthquakes believed to be caused by a deep injection well. Because of the issues that deep injection wells may cause, some companies are looking for other solutions.

» Via: The Columbus Dispatch › ‘Fracking’ brine- Gas-Well waste full of radium