Naturally occurring radionuclides in particulate emission from a coal fired power plant: a potential contamination?

Abstract

he use of coal as fuel in coal-fired power plant (CFPP) for electricity generation results in emission of particulate which contains trace quantities of naturally occurring radionuclides, namely Uranium-238 (238U), Thorium-232 (232Th) including their decay series and Potassium-40 (40K). These naturally occurring radionuclides may increase their natural radioactivity level in the ambient particulate matter vicinity of the plant resulting from the combustion processes. This paper presents an investigation of radioactivity level of particulate emission and maximum deposition due to natural radioactive emissions from a typical CFPP using standard Gaussian dispersion model approach. The predicted maximum ground level particulate concentration (Cmax) and downwind distance were 55 µg m-3 and 1600 m away from the source, respectively. The results recorded that the Cmax released from the CFPP was significantly lower than the national and international ambient air quality limits, which means that radiological hazards from inhalation due to particulate emission released from the stack is insignificant. The air dispersion modelling results suggested that this activity does not impose any significant effect to the human population at large and potential contamination at vicinity of CFPP is remote.