I'm the air toxics section head for my state. That means I get to do a lot
of work with things like power plant emissions.
Very generically, the stacks are tall to get the pollution up high into the
air, so it disperses. It will travel outward from the stack in a cone
shape, and start impacting the ground some distance away. The places
getting hit with the highest concentrations of pollution from those stacks
are usually a few miles away. It then gets lower further out as it
continues to dilute. The environmental problems from power plants affect
the regions, not individual neighborhoods.
To put the danger from the power plant emission in perspective, you get a
heck of a lot more exposure to those same chemicals from roads nearby with
lots of vehicles on them. As well the neighborhood oil furnaces,
lawnmowers, etc. As for the metals, a whole lot more is coming from your
neighborhood body shop, the welder, etc. If you're downwind of a commercial
or industrial park, well heck, there's quite a number of sources in there
with low stacks that just roll it all downwind at ground level.
Would I consider living within sight of a power plant? Certainly. Far
quicker than I'd be willing to live next to an industrial park (and I do
live less than a mile from some) or a heavily traveled road. But, I'd be
aware of the perception of danger from the power plant view, and the effect
this will have on resale and market price of this home.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Horwitz" <ronglue@yahoo.com>
To: <shop-talk@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 3:47 PM
Subject: [Shop-talk] living near a power plant
>I found a house that I like (garage is 28 x 21, it may have bedrooms and a
>kitchen), but it is within sight of the stack from the local oil fired
>steam plant. From MS Streets, I would estimate one mile straight line.
>Now, I'm a fan of electricity and conceptually this doesn't bother me, but
>I feel the need to be informed. When I look at the environmental release
>form, it puts out 2000lb lead, 30k lb vandium, 50k lb nickel, 66k lb
>hydrochloric acid and 450k lb sulfuric acid per year. I still don't feel
>informed. Does anyone have practical experience or know of a reference
>related to living near a power plant?
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Shop-talk mailing list
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/shop-talk
http://www.team.net/archive
|