Power generating units are mega projects

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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants

• Power generating units are mega projects
• Require huge capital investment
• Require natural resources like, fossil fuels
• Large amount of water
• Changes the local eco system
• Huge Impacts on the Environment and Health

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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants

• In keeping with the policy of liberalization set
  in motion since 1991, welcoming private sector
  participation, Thermal Projects identified for
  private sector Participation in Karnataka
• Mysore Stage I 2x250 MW
• Mysore Stage II 2x500 MW
• Hospet Thermal Power Station 2x250 MW
• Raichur Thermal Power Station 2x250 MW
• Mangalore Thermal Power Station 1000 MW

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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants
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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants
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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants
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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants
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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants

• Air Quality
• Around the coal based plants the ambient
  concentrations of Sulphur Dioxide, Oxides of
  Nitrogen and SPM are high.
• Epidemiological Studies have shown that of the
  area surrounding coal based thermal plants,
  population living within a 2 -5 km radius of the
  plant suffers from respiratory disorders .
• Two other gases, carbon dioxide and ozone are
  emitted. The high amount of carbon dioxide
  emission from thermal power plants contribute to
  global warming leading to climate change is
  significant Ground level ozone, which is formed
  due to photolytic reactions of NOx and its
  impacts are under study

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Understanding Coal Fired Thermal Power Plants

• Fly ash contains a toxic brew of dangerous
  chemicals and is the largest contributor to
  mercury pollution

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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants

• Composition of Fly ash
• It contains as main chemical components SiO2
  (51.4 wt), Al2O3 (22.1 wt) and Fe2O3 (17.2 wt
  ignited weight basis). As commonly observed, many
  toxic elements and heavy metals are highly
  enriched in the fly ash relative to the original
  coal. For example, considerable amounts of Be
  (16.4 ppm), Cu (106 ppm), Zn (578 ppm), As (40.4
  ppm), Cd (2.6 ppm), Hg (18 ppm), Pb (71 ppm), and
  U (21.8 ppm) is found in Fly ash.

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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants

• Water slurry is used to take the ash from the
  power plant to the ash pond for disposal. 
• Water slowly seeps into the ground while carrying
  with it the ash leachate. Water may contain
  harmful heavy metals like boron, which have a
  tendency to leach out over a period of time. 
• When fly ash comes into contact with water,
  leaches into groundwater supplies which get
  polluted and unsuitable for domestic use. 
• The release of ash pond decant into the local
  water bodies- water dries up, dust nuisance,
  increases turbidity, decreases primary
  productivity, affects fishes and other aquatic
  biota

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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants

• The exposure of employees to high noise levels is
  very high
• Increased transportation activities due to the
  operation of the power plants lead to increase
  in noise levels in the adjacent localities.

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Understanding Coal fired Thermal Power plants

• Large amount of land is used to dispose flyash
  from the coal based plants
• Due to this there is change in natural soil
  properties.  It becomes more alkaline due to the
  alkaline nature of fly ash.

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A constant reminder Minamata

• Minamata disease sometimes referred to as
  Chisso-Minamata disease is a neurological
  syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning.
  Symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands
  and feet, general muscle weakness, narrowing of
  the field of vision and damage to hearing and
  speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis,
  coma and death follow within weeks of the onset
  of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can
  also affect fetuses in the womb.

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Chisso Corporation's Wastewater discharge

• Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata
  city in Japan in 1956. It was caused by the
  release of methyl mercury in the industrial Waste
  water from the Chisso Corporation's chemical
  factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This
  highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish
  and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea,
  which when eaten by the local populace resulted
  in mercury poisoning. While cat, dog, pig and
  human deaths continued over more than 30 years,
  the government and company did little to prevent
  the pollution.

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Minamata struggle continues

• As of March 2001, 2,265 victims had been
  officially recognised (1,784 of whom had died)and
  over 10,000 had received financial compensation
  from Chisso, lawsuits and claims for compensation
  continue to this day.
• A memorial service was held at the Minamata
  Disease Municipal Museum on 1 May 2006 to mark 50
  years since the official discovery of the
  disease.

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A view of the Raichur Thermal Power plant,
Shaktinagar, Raichur
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Sources of Mercury in our Environment

• Each year power plants and chemical facilities
  create many tons of mercury pollution, which
  makes its way into our homes and bodies in fish.
• Two of the biggest sources of mercury pollution
  are chlorine chemical plants and coal-fired power
  plants. Chlorine plants, which use massive
  quantities of mercury to extract chlorine from
  salt, "lose" dozens of tons of mercury each year
  power plants emit around 50 tons of mercury
  pollution annually. Coal is naturally
  contaminated with mercury, and when it is burned
  to generate electricity, mercury is released into
  the air through the smokestacks.

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Flyash Pond of Raichur
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China's model of Growth

• Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of
  mercury air emissions worldwide. As the price of
  oil rises, coal becomes a more economically
  attractive source of energy in countries where it
  is abundant and inexpensive. Currently,
  coal-fired power plants supply seventy-five
  percent of China's energy in the next eight
  years, China is expected to add more than 560
  plants coal plants -- a pace of more than one new
  plant each week.

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FlyAsh tank, Raichur
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No place for wildlife
Land acquisition leads to loss of habitat of some
species and results in loss of flora and faunal
species
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Reuse of Flyash- How sustainable? How safe?

• Uses of Fly ash
• Fly ash is used in producing very strong high
  power concrete. Which is called self compacting
  Concrete(SCC), soil stabilization, fly ash fills
  roads, precast products like tiles and blocks,
  fly ash bricks also called green bricks ,
  agricultural use , raising of dykes, mine filling
  etc.

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How does Mercury harm humans?

• Toxicology
• How Mercury Harms Humans Elemental (metallic)
  mercury and all of its compounds are toxic,
  exposure to excessive levels can permanently
  damage or fatally injure the brain and kidneys.
• Elemental mercury can also be absorbed through
  the skin and cause allergic reactions. Ingestion
  of inorganic mercury compounds can cause severe
  renal and gastrointestinal damage.
• Organic compounds of mercury such as methyl
  mercury are considered the most toxic forms of
  the element. Exposures to very small amounts of
  these compounds can result in devastating
  neurological damage and death.
• For fetuses, infants and children, the primary
  health effects of mercury are on neurological
  development.
• Even low levels of mercury exposure such as
  result from mother's consumption methyl mercury
  in dietary sources can adversely affect the brain
  and nervous system.
• Impacts on memory, attention, language and other
  skills have been found in children exposed to
  moderate levels in the womb.

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Impacts of Mercury on Flora and Fauna
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How do humans get exposed to Mercury?

• Air borne mercury is highly toxic when inhaled.
  How does it get in the air?Metallic mercury
  slowly evaporates when exposed to the air. The
  air in a room can reach unhealthy levels just
  from the mercury in a broken thermometer
• Mercury may be released into the air when coal,
  oil, or wood are burned as fuel or when
  mercury-containing wastes are incinerated. The
  resulting mercury concentrations in outdoor air
  are usually low and of little direct concern.
  However, mercury in the air can fall to the
  ground with rain and snow, landing on soil or in
  bodies of water, causing contamination. Lakes and
  rivers are also contaminated when there is a
  direct discharge of mercury-laden industrial or
  municipal waste into the water.
• When mercury enters bodies of water, biological
  processes transform it to methylmercury, a highly
  toxic and bioaccumulative form. Fish can absorb
  methylmercury from their food and directly from
  water as it passes over their gills.

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Mercury cycle

• The cycle of mercury in nature is complex. This
  illustration summarizes how methyl mercury
  accumulates at the higher levels of the food
  chain and becomes concentrated in fish and
  animals that eat fish.
• Methylmercury in the water and sediment is taken
  up by tiny animals and plants known as plankton.
• Minnows and juvenile fish eat large quantities of
  plankton over time.
• Larger predatory fish consume many smaller fish,
  accumulating methylmercury in their tissues. The
  older and larger the fish, the greater the
  potential for high mercury levels in their
  bodies.
• Fish are caught and eaten by humans and animals,
  causing methylmercury to accumulate in human
  tissues.
• Most people are exposed to mercury by eating fish
  containing mercury. There is no method of cooking
  or cleaning them that will reduce the amount of
  mercury in a meal.

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Alternate forms of Energy
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• Bio fuel