engleski

Technologically Enhanced Natural Radioactivity Around the Coal Fired Power Plant

In some situations the exposure to natural radiation sources is enhanced as a result to technological developments. Burning of coal is one source of enhanced radiation exposure to naturally occurring elements, particularly radium, thorium and uranium. Most of the radioactive substances are concentrated in the ash and slag, which are heavy and drop to the bottom of a furnace. Lighter fly ash is carried up the chimney and into the atmosphere. The bottom ash and slag are usually deposited in a waste pile, from where some activity may leach into aquifers or be dispersed by wind. The main pathways through which the populations living around coal fired power plants are exposed to enhanced levels of natural radionuclides are inhalation and ingestion of the activity discharged into the atmosphere. For this reason, extensive investigations have been under way for several years in the coal fired power plant in Croatia, which uses an anthracite coal with a higher than usual uranium content.

natural radioactivity; coal

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