Environmental Impact of Coal Utilisation in Thermal Power Plant Kant K.1, Chakarvarti S.K.2 1Dept. of Physics, K.L.Mehta Dayanand College for Women, Faridabad (Haryana)-121 001 (INDIA) 2Dept. of Applied Physics, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra (Haryana)-136 119 (INDIA) Corresponding author: E-mail: kkant_67@rediffmail.com, Tel: 0129-2416602
Abstract Radon is a colourless, odourless but noble gas, which is radioactive and ubiquitously present. It poses grave health hazards not only to uranium miners but also people living in normal houses and buildings and at work place like coal mines, cement industry, thermal power plants etc. Coal, a naturally occurring fossil fuel is burnt in conventional power plants to met out about 72% of the electricity needs in our country. It was lesser known hitherto until recently that the fly ash which is a by product of burnt coal is a potential radioactive air pollutant and it modifies radiation exposure. The increased interest in measuring radon concentration in the environment of thermal power plants is due to its health hazards and environmental pollution caused due to the burning of coal in thermal power plants. The radon levels were measured by using Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors, LR-115 type- II, exposed for 100 days at various locations in the thermal power plant. The radon levels measured at some locations were moderately high and thus not very safe from health point of view. Top Keywords Radon, Thermal power plant, SSNTDs, Coal, Fly ash. Top |