“They are a contributor, of course they are, but they are not the main one,” said Nicole Mölders, chairwoman of the atmospheric sciences department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Mölders began studying power plant emissions last winter using mathematical models. She said her findings are preliminary. The final results will be published late next year.
Her research so far shows emissions from the three coal-fired power plants in Fairbanks goes high into the air. The pollution travels across the land before some fraction of the pollution is mixed to the breathing level at an estimated five miles.
“It’s so diluted, it’s at levels that are not considered unhealthy,” Mölders said.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough commissioned the study to help determine the cause of fine particulate pollution known as PM 2.5. The levels of PM 2.5 in Fairbanks and North Pole sometimes exceed federal standards, and the government wants the pollution levels brought down.
UAF, Fort Wainwright and downtown Fairbanks each have coal-fired power plants with highly visible smoke stacks.
Mölders said the results of her study came as no surprise — the smoke stacks have mechanisms to filter out pollution—but a study was needed because of Fairbanks’ northern location.
“There are not many studies out for arctic conditions,” she said. “It was what we basically expected but unless you do really calculate it, you don’t know it.”
Mölders’ mathematical models took into consideration the weather, the temperature of emissions, emission rates, the height of the smoke stacks and the velocity as the emissions left the stacks. Full story
