Radioactive sediment has been found in river waters near a Pennsylvanian shale gas operation, a research team has discovered.
Josephine Brine Treatment Centre, part of a gas and oil plant situated in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, releases wastewater into nearby Blacklick Creek.
Sediment taken from the creek exhibited high levels of radioactivity and radium levels 200 times greater than samples taken just upstream of the plant.
The study found that some of the discharged effluent is derived from the Marcellus shale gas flowback water, which is naturally high in salinity and radioactivity.
High concentrations of some salts and metals were also observed in the stream water.
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