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MERCURY DISTRIBUTION IN SOIL AROUND A LARGE COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT
Citation:
Crockett, A. AND R. Kinnison. MERCURY DISTRIBUTION IN SOIL AROUND A LARGE COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-77/063 (NTIS PB269289), 1977.
Description:
Seventy soil samples were collected on a radial grid employing sixteen evenly spaced radii and five logarithmically spaced circles, concentric around the Four Corners power plant. The soil samples were analyzed for total mercury using a Zeeman Atomic Absorption spectrophotometer. Residue levels were quite low compared to average soil residues and no statistically valid differences in mercury residue levels were detected between circles or radii using two-way analysis of variance techniques. F-ratios indicated: significant differences between radii, and significant complex interaction which could not be eliminated. Contours of iso-mercury concentrations show a relative high west of the plant near the ash ponds and another just east of the plant. The fate of the 510 kg of mercury emited per year is not known, but it is not accumulating near the plant. Mercury emissions by U.S. coal-fired power plants amount to only 4% of the natural degassing loss in the U.S., and levels near power plants appear low. The significance of mercury emissions by power plants should be evaluated on a regional basis since the evidence shows no significant local elevation of mercury in soils or air.