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| Is incineration safe? |
Well, Staffordshire County Council say it is. They use phrases like 'State of the Art', but just what state is the art in?
In 2006, the latest year that complete data is available from the Environment Protection Agency, Staffordshire County Council's Hanford incinerator breached it's emission limits 40 times.
In February 2007 the operators received a written warning that they had been in breach of their Pollution Prevention and Control permit as a result of 9 nine days of continually exceeding their NOx emission level. Subsequently, in April 2007 they were served with an enforcement notice for being in contravention of the permit. The enforcement notice stated that "The Management system is inadequately resourced and is not being implemented at this site".
Also in February 2007, in response to the NOx problems MES Environmental sent a letter to the Environment Agency admitting to problems with the monitoring equipment, and it's software.
In July 2007 another letter was sent to the environment agency about more software problems and drawing attention to an excess of mercury in the test for the first quarter of 2007, and then an excess of metals in the test for the second quarter.
Problems like these are not unique to Hanford. In 2006 the incinerator at Dudley had numerous equipment failures, resulting in over 50 emission breaches, and not to be outdone, Wolverhampton's incinerator had more than 50 breaches as well.
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| Do incinerators cause health problems? |
Staffordshire County Council's view is that "Many heath experts acknowledge that any adverse health effects of modern EfW facilities are miniscule". It might have been better if they had asked some health experts instead of heath experts.
Many other health experts think there are significant adverse health effects from incinerators. Incinerator emissions are a major source of fine particulates, toxic metals and more than 200 organic compounds, including known carcinogens and hormone disrupters.
Studies have shown higher rates of adult and childhood cancer around incinerators. There is also evidence that birth defects and child mortality are increased in the vicinity of incinerators.
Dioxins are still a major cause for concern. The amount of dioxins emitted from incinerators in the past was extremely high. The levels emitted have now been reduced but not eliminated. Dioxins accumulate in the body over time, they also accumulate in milk (including human breast milk). There is no known safe level for dioxins. There are still problems monitoring dioxin emissions from incinerators. Continuous monitoring is expensive, so tests are normally only performed 2 or 4 times per year. The tests are done during "normal" incinerator operations. There is evidence to suggest that dioxin emissions are substantially higher during "abnormal" operation during shutdown, or when the incinerator has a problem.
The amount of fine particles emitted from the stack is also a problem. Current regulations require the monitoring of PM10 particles. There is no requirement to measure the amount of PM2.5 particles emitted from the stack. PM2.5 particles are small enough to be absorbed into the lungs. PM2.5's have been linked to heart disease, cancer Alzheimers, birth defects and increased infant mortality.
Health concern is mainly focused on the problem of airborne pollutants, but the ash also contains many toxic compounds. The fly ash is landfilled at sites licensed to bury hazardous materials. The fly ash is light and easily windborne. It is transported from the incinerator to the landfill site in sealed trucks, but is a potential hazard at the landfill site. |
Further information...
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