Скачать или смотреть Pollution control for Coal and Nuclear Power Plants | Skill-Lync

We get electricity to be used for various purposes from power plants. But as they consume fuel, they also emit the leftover products of the power cycle. In India, coal is the primary fuel for electricity generation. The burning of fossil fuels like coal produces waste that causes global warming.

Moreover, carbon monoxide emitted by power plants is toxic. The nitrogen compounds formed during combustion cause chronic lung illness. Also, if there is sulfur present in the fuel, then sulfur compounds will be emitted which causes health problems and acid rain.

One way to ensure the carbon dioxide does not harm the environment is Carbon capture and storage. After the combustion of the fuel, the carbon dioxide is separated from other gases and is stored underground after being compressed.
Due to the high pressure at such depths and the impermeable rock layer, the gas stays in liquid form.

On the other hand, carbon capture and utilization can use the captured carbon dioxide to recover the oil from natural resources easily. The carbon dioxide can also be converted to other products like carbon-neutral fuels to minimize the direct emission into the atmosphere.

Along with gaseous waste, coal power plants also produce solid waste in the form of coal ash. After the combustion of all the organic compounds in the fuel, the leftover inorganic compounds can be collected at the bottom of the combustion chamber. The ash collected from the bottom of the combustion chamber is called bottom ash. Although some ash gets mixed with the gases. This type of ash is called fly ash and it can be separated from the gases by filtration.

Although there are ways to minimize pollution by coal power plants, the best alternative is the production of electricity by using renewable energy sources. Apart from renewable sources, Nuclear power can also provide a safer and much cleaner alternative to fossil fuel power plants. One of the advantages of nuclear power over coal power plants is that there is no direct carbon dioxide emission.

Despite having no direct carbon emissions, nuclear power plants need safe handling and disposal of the spent fuel because it is radioactive. Depending on the radioactivity, nuclear waste is usually divided as low, intermediate, and high-level waste. Low-level waste has very low radioactivity, for example, the reactor water comes in contact with the nuclear fuel thus the waste from reprocessing of water is contaminated and comes under low-level waste. But intermediate level waste needs shielding. This is because intermediate-level waste has a higher level of radioactivity but not high enough to require cooling as well.

On the other hand, the high-level fuel includes the spent nuclear fuel and the waste from the reprocessed fuel that is highly radioactive and thus comes under high-level waste. Due to the high radioactivity, high-level fuel requires shielding as well as cooling. But radioactivity of spent fuel decreases with time, therefore after some time, the waste becomes non-hazardous. Therefore, the pollution caused by coal and nuclear power plants can be reduced by various methods including disposal within safe limits and storage.

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