Air pollution, a source of major national concern, is a consequence of many factors — population growth, technology development, increased urban­ization, and rising energy demands. The need to curb such pollution was deemed so urgent that it was cited as one of three pressing problems which will be given immediate priority attention by the Presidents’ Environmental Quality Council, established by executive order on May 29, 1969 (Executive Order No. 11472).

Although the majority of these pollutants come from automobiles and other internal combustion engines, substantial amounts result from fossil fueled power plants. The principal pollutants from fossil fueled power plants are: fly-ash, smoke, soot, and the gaseous oxides of sulfur, carbon, and nitro­gen. These pollutants have the potential of impairing public health, creating annoyance, and causing significant property damage.

Sulfur oxides are the most troublesome pollutants of the atmosphere from fossil fueled plants at the present time. Sulfur dioxide may convert to sulfuric acid mist, which can cause extensive damage to humans, vegetation, and property. A modern coal-fired plant with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts electrical could discharge through the stack about 250 tons of sulfur dioxide per day when operating at full capacity.

Nitrogen oxides produced by coal-fired plants, when inhaled by man, can combine with the water in his body to form nitric acid. This acid damages cell tissues, particularly in the lungs. The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare has put nitrogen oxide among the first five pollutants for which it is developing air quality control criteria. It has been estimated that a 1,000- megawatt coal-fired plant dumps 80 tons of nitrogen oxides into the atmos­phere every day.

Carbon dioxide is being added to the atmosphere at the rate of 6 billion tons a year by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas. It has been estimated that by the year 2000 the carbon dioxide content could increase by 25 per cent, resulting in a “greenhouse effect” which could modify the heat balance of the atmosphere sufficiently to cause marked changes in climate (see Report of the Environmental Pollution Panel, President’s Science Advisory Commit­tee, “Restoring the Quality of Our Environment.” November 1965).

Carbon monoxide is also being added to atmosphere by combustion of fossil fuels. It combines with hemoglobin in the red blood corpuscles and thus interferes with their normal functions of supplying oxygen to the body tissues. The amount of carbon monoxide produced annually by power plants, though small in comparison to that from cars, is about 1 million tons.

There may also be unknown risks — genetic damage, life shortening, can­cer — from environmental contamination with nonradioactive materials and organic products from fossil plants.

A discussion of the organization and methods used in efforts to control air pollution can be found in Chapter IV of the report “Considerations Affect­ing Steam Power Plant Site Selection.”

REFERENCES

aec Internal Study Group. Report to the Atomic Energy Commission on the reactor licensing program, aec Public Announcement M-149. June 1969.

aec Press Release M-132. aec seeks comment on proposed policy on siting of fuel reprocessing and disposal of wastes. June 2,1969.

frc. Radiation protection guidance for federal agencies. Memorandum for the President, Federal Register, May 18,1960.

Interdepartmental Study. Energy R&D and national progress: Findings and conclu­sions. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, September 1966.

National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences. The biological effects of atomic radiation. Summary Reports, 1956.

President’s Office of Science and Technology. Considerations affecting steam power plant site selection. Report, January 1969.

Ramey, James T. Statement before Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution, Sen­ate Committee on Public Works, on S. 7, March 3,1969.

—— . Providing for public safety in the nuclear industry — the engineering ap­proach. aec Press Release S-16-69. Remarks before the National Academy of Engineering, Washington, D. C., May 1,1969.

—— . Nuclear power —facts instead of fiction, aec Press Release S-19-69. Re­marks at news briefing, Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant, Haddam Neck, Connecticut, June 2,1969.

—— . Radiation protection — past, present and future, aec Press Release S-25-69.

Remarks at the Conference on Universities, National Laboratories, and Man’s Environment, Chicago, July 28,1969.

—— . Understanding nuclear power, aec Press Release S-28-69. Remarks at Con­ference on Nuclear Power and the Environment, Burlington, Vermont, Septem­ber 11,1969.

Seaborg, Glenn T. The environment — and what to do about it. aec Press Release S-14-69. Remarks at National Research Council Solid State Sciences Panel, National Academy of Sciences, Argonne, Illinois, May 5,1969.

—— . Nuclear power and the environment — a perspective. Remarks at Confer­ence on Nuclear Power and the Environment, Burlington, Vermont, September 11,1969.

Starr, Chauncey. Social benefit versus technological risk. Science, 1969, 165, 1232­1238.