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Geographical information systems and air pollutionsimulation for Megalopolis’ electric power plant inPeloponnese, GreeceMike Theophanidesa, Jane Anastassopouloua & Theophile Theophanidesa

a National Technical University of Athens, Chemical Engineering Department, RadiationChemistry and Biospectroscopy, Zografou Campus, Zografou, Athens, GreecePublished online: 05 May 2014.

To cite this article: Mike Theophanides, Jane Anastassopoulou & Theophile Theophanides (2014) Geographical informationsystems and air pollution simulation for Megalopolis’ electric power plant in Peloponnese, Greece, Journal of EnvironmentalScience and Health, Part A: Toxic/Hazardous Substances and Environmental Engineering, 49:9, 1045-1053, DOI:10.1080/10934529.2014.895557

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Geographical information systems and air pollution simulationfor Megalopolis’ electric power plant in Peloponnese, Greece

MIKE THEOPHANIDES, JANE ANASTASSOPOULOU and THEOPHILE THEOPHANIDES

National Technical University of Athens, Chemical Engineering Department, Radiation Chemistry and Biospectroscopy, ZografouCampus, Zografou, Athens, Greece

The growth and sophistication of geographic information systems (GIS) have propelled us into a new era of environmental analyses.Air pollution is a growing concern in populated areas as many recent studies have associated high levels of pollution with increasedillnesses and mortality. The study will focus on the toxicity levels incurred by radioactive lignite-burning Power Generation facilitieslocated in Megalopolis, Greece. An estimate of pollution emissions followed by dispersion simulations for various atmosphericconditions will be given. The exercise will be integrated with a Geographical Information System (GIS) for defining the emissionsources and visualizing the dispersion of pollutants over the geographical terrain. Data samples were collected from vegetation in thesurrounding areas and analyzed for radioactivity. High energy levels (up to 4-5 times higher than recommended standards,(UNCEAR, 1982) were found in several samples containing 226Ra, 232Th, 234Th, 40K and 238U. The study concludes that air qualityand vegetation of the neighbouring areas is adversely affected by industrial waste. Greater pollution controls and air qualitymonitoring should be applied for the benefit and health of its citizens. Radioactivity in food and water and inhaled air become verydangerous for public health thus, the levels of radioactivity should be kept within UNCEAR 1982 limits.

Keywords: Air pollution, air quality, GIS, simulation, radioactivity, lignite-Megalopolis.

Introduction

The Geographic Information System (GIS) and the Simu-lation results of dispersion of pollutants have been carriedout in this work using the ADMS (Atmospheric Disper-sion Model System) for the dispersion of pollutants, suchas, SO2, NOx, O3 and PM (Particulate Matter) taking intoaccount the wind direction and speed.[1–3] The dispersionsimulations indicate that the city of Megalopolis, the agri-cultural fields and the vegetation around the lignite plantof Megalopolis within a distance of at least 3k wereexposed to high levels of chemical pollutants and a majorsource of air PMs (PM1, PM2.5 and PM10) radiation fromradionuclides all of which are of dangerous for the popula-tion living in close proximity of the lignite burning powerplant.

A Geographical Information System (GIS) is a means ofrepresenting multiple sources of data in a layeredapproach. Each layer is represented by a data layer thatexists in many forms, from simple text files to complexrelational databases.[2,3] Examples of information datathat are contained in this GIS project include Terrain Ele-vation, Terrain features (Forest, Bodies of Waters), Trans-portation Networks (Roads, Trains), and Industrial Parks(factories, smokestacks).[4] The Emissions Inventory is amodel describing pollution emission levels of the mainsources of pollution to be used in the study. It is a simula-tion program that estimates the amount of pollution gener-ated by industrial activity. Atmospheric dispersion is amathematical model that describes the movement of chem-ical pollutants as a function of atmospheric conditions.[1–3]

These conditions can include basic factors such as wind,relative humidity and pressure, temperature and radiation.The models derive from meteorological and physical prin-ciples. An important component of such models is chemi-cal simulation models of the mixing of chemicalconstituents as a function of these basic factors. Results ofthese models can compute, for example, the concentrationof chemical compounds at a given time of day based onmeteorological conditions. In today’s environment, com-plex science models are rendered inefficient or evenimpractical if they are not equipped with the proper

Address correspondence to Theophile Theophanides, NationalTechnical University of Athens, Chemical Engineering Depart-ment, Radiation Chemistry and Biospectroscopy, ZografouCampus, 15780 Zografou, Athens, Greece; E-mail: theophan@central.ntua.gr or theo.theophanides@gmail.comReceived November 21, 2013.Color versions of one or more of the figures in this article can befound online at www.tandfonline.com/lesa.

Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A (2014) 49, 1045–1053Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 1093-4529 (Print); 1532-4117 (Online)DOI: 10.1080/10934529.2014.895557

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visualization capabilities. The role of science is not to sim-ply compute information but to be able to portray thisinformation to other people.

Materials and methods

Radioactivity of the ground earth

The power plants of Megalopolis use approximately12,500,000 tonnes of lignite/year in the electrical powerunit and produces 2–2,500,000 tonnes/year of ashes con-sisting of PM, mainly metal oxides. The chemical gasesthat are produced are mainly (CO2), (SO2) and (NO2). ThePM contains radioactive material (radioisotopes) from theU(238) and K(40) lines, implying that there are daughterparticles. The ashes contain 10 pCi/gr of 226Ra and 20pCi/gr of 238U.[6,7] It was calculated that the radioactivitywas quite high.Samples were collected throughout different parts of

Megalopolis on February 18th of 2002 and two monthslater on the 18th of April of the same year and indicatedhigh levels of radioactivity. The radioactivity of environ-ment was measured using a Geiger detector obtained fromMini Instruments Bumham, Scaler ratemeter-90 cergie(Mini Instruments, Ltd., Crouch, England), 6-90 Series.At the point located 840 m from the sea-level and 3 km in

line with the DEH (Public Electric Power) electric powerplant, the radioactivity measured from samples taken inFebruary was 180 Bq/10sec compared to an acceptedradioactivity limit of 40 Bq/10sec. The collection samplestaken from April indicated that the air radioactivity wasmore than 300 Bq/10sec. However, at that time of yearthe wind speeds were high (more than 5 m/s).The direction of the winds was from south to north. The

radioactivity was produced at the place that the lignite wasextracted, which was located south of the DEH plant. Itmust be noted that the ashes of the burnt lignite are trans-ferred to a dumping ground using open trucks. The radio-activity near the DEH power plant was normal around30–40 Bq/10sec, since the smoke-stacks are quite highand the height and the wind transport the gases andthe aerosols in great distances. Behind the mountainsthe radioactivity was measured and it was similar to thenatural radioactivity. The ground radioactivity duringwinter was 67–68 Bq/10sec for the sandstone (Flyska) and110–117 Bq/10sec for the clay stone, while in spring, andafter winter rain, the radioactivity was 70–80 Bq/10secand 150 Bq/10sec, correspondingly. These values are quitehigh. It is also found that the sandstone materials, whensubject to rainwater, lose part of their radioactivity to thewater.Some vegetation plants located near the two burners

preferentially absorbed the potassium chemical element,

Fig. 1.GIS raster overlay of Peloponnese used to geo-reference high-resolution data.

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but they do not distinguish the radioactive 40K from thenon-radioactive 39K. The bushes rich with green leavesshow a radioactivity of 104 Bq/10sec, whereas the thornybushes show lower radioactivity of a value of 95 Bq/10sec.

GIS model and geographic data

The GIS model for Megalopolis [3] uses raster images fromGoogle Earth, which were taken of the surroundings tocreate a mosaic of satellite imagery. Three layers ofmosaics were superimposed to provide adequate resolutionat all zoom levels. The 1:1,000,000 GIS data of Peloponn-ese was used. Due to the lack of terrain detail in the Mega-lopolis area (centre of the peninsula), it was very difficultto geo-reference the raster images. It was required to builda raster image of the entire continent and then overlay thehigh resolution data of Megalopolis city and lignite facto-ries over this image. Figure 1 shows the GIS model of thepeninsula used to form the base of the GIS model.[3–5]

With an adequate base layer model, a high resolutionlayer was geo-referenced for the Megalopolis area asshown in Figure 2 and layered with the low-resolution1:1 M shape-file data. Figure 3 is a zoom of this layer indi-cating the location of the two emission point sources

modelled to represent the two main lignite burning areas(orange triangle) and the site of soil collections (green).

Simulation data

The ADMS simulation software is based largely on thetheory of Gaussian plume [4] theory describing dispersion,and it represents a material balance model. The equationsof mass, momentum and heat transfer are solved assumingthe conservation of properties. The plume is assumed to beuniform and continuous, emanating from a single pointand the concentration values downwind are computedfrom this single source. The uniformity represents the aver-age of actual dispersion, which contains large-scale turbu-lent mixing. The transport of gases is computed byturbulent and molecular diffusion. In reality, the concen-tration fluctuates in an irregular and random fashion. TheGaussian plume approximation assumes that an averageconcentration exists at some point at all times.[4]

Measurements of radioactivity of the plants by X-rays

For the detection of the radioisotopes in the plants we fol-lowed an X-ray medical technique, which is used to local-ize the radioactive compounds. The films were obtained

Fig. 2.Megalopolis and surrounding GIS model.

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from Kodak, Ltd. Figure 4 depicts an X-ray picture of abranch taken from broad bean plants (chick peas, greenand yellow peas) around the Megalopolis sited at 3 Kmfrom the power generation source. These plants contain alot of potassium (357 mg/Kg).[8] Close examination of the

X-ray picture of the plant’s branch indicates deposits ofradiation. The circled areas show the presence of high con-centration of radioisotopes.As was mentioned previously, these plants contain large

amounts of potassium, which include radioactive potas-sium absorbed from the ground. To confirm this sugges-tion we compared different plants from the Megalopolisregion and from the Attica region near Athens, wherethere are few sources of radioactivity. Figure 5 comparestwo samples side-by-side. The plant on the left (A) wastaken around Megalopolis and the plant on the right (B)was taken from Attica’s region that does not contain lig-nite processing or burning. The plant exposed to the lignitefactories in Megalopolis clearly demonstrates deposits ofradioactive material (shown by the arrows), whereas onthe right it does not show any spots or areas from absorbedradionuclides.This pollution of the plants is due to wet and dry deposi-

tion of the pollutants onto the surface of the plants andon the ground. Dry deposition represents the downwardmovement of trace gases and particles to the earth’s sur-face in spite of the plume rise and in absence of precipita-tion.[9,10] This process is responsible for the removal ofgases and particles from the atmosphere. It corrects thetheoretical buoyancy of the Gaussian plume rise. How-ever, it is critical since it represents the impact of ground-level pollution. Research from our laboratory from soil

Fig. 3.GIS model of megalopolis.

Fig. 4. Radioactive deposits in vegetation (broad bean branchesand green peas’ branches) around Megalopolis.The cycles showsome sites of higher concentration of radioisotopes.

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and vegetation samples gathered at the Megalopolis siteindicated high levels of toxicity and radioactivity due tolignite waste deposits of fly-ashes and to deposition ofradionuclides.

Results and discussion

Simulations were carried out using ADMS [1] for averagesummer temperatures and various winds to visualize theeffects of pollution dispersion on the inhabitants of thecity and farming industries. The effects of varying windsdirections were studied first. Figures 6–8 show the effectsof the northern, north-western and eastern winds for thepollutant, NOx, respectively. Parts of the city of Megalopo-lis and the outer farming regions are always exposed toplume dispersion for these common wind scenarios. In thefigures the concentration of the gasses is also given by themethod, which is high at the source and weakens as itdisperses.The dispersions of O3 and PM10 are shown in Figures 9

and 10 for low wind speeds (less than 5 m/s) and NWwinds. The ozone concentration is also very dangerous [11]

and its dispersion was followed in order to see the disper-sion orientation with North-western winds (Fig. 9). TheParticulate Matter, coarse, fine, and ultrafine, is extremely

Fig. 6.Megalopolis NOx dispersion simulation, Northerly Winds.

Fig. 5. Radioactive deposits absorbed by plants around Mega-lopolis. A: a branch from bushes rich in green leaves from Mega-lopolis’ radioactive environment and B: a branch of greenbushes from the nonradioactive Attica’s environment. Thearrows show the accumulation of radioisotopes.

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Fig. 7.Megalopolis NOx dispersion simulation, NW winds.

Fig. 8.Megalopolis NOx dispersion simulation, Easterly winds.

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Fig. 9.Megalopolis O3 dispersion with NW winds.

Fig. 10.Megalopolis PM10 dispersion with NW winds.

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dangerous for our health. In particular, the radioactivePM that contains radionuclides is doubly dangerous, asthey are toxic heavy metals and are also radioactive mate-rials.[12–18]

The dispersion simulations indicate that the city of Meg-alopolis and the agricultural gardens and vegetationaround the lignite plants can easily become exposed tohigh levels of concentration of pollutants, as is clearlyshown from the figures of dispersion.More results are needed on the radioactivity in local

food or water measurements. The actual concentrationlevels in people will depend on variables including thetype of isotopes present and the amount of food con-sumed over a period of time. The presence of radioiso-topes as PM particles in the food chain is manifestedthrough its absorption by the leaves and the roots. Fur-thermore, milk, eggs and meat can become contami-nated when farm animals graze and consume nutrientsthat contain radioactive elements. It is known that ioniz-ing radiation that is emitted from radioisotopes inducesoxidative stress leading to atherosclerosis, cardiovascu-lar diseases and even cancer. It was found that toxicmetals from working environments induced patients’atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases due to oxida-tive stress they produce.[19–22]

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that Geographical InformationSystems (GIS) can play an important role in air pollutionstudies of dispersion of pollutants in the atmosphere andin understanding the interaction of chemical pollutantswith the topology and people. Atmospheric dispersiontechniques demonstrate how chemical concentrations willdisperse with the winds and at what rate they will dilute inthe atmosphere and spread around and above the terrain.Terrain dispersion is a key tool in understanding the levelsof concentration over inhabited areas or agricultural areasthat can assist in health impact studies. This study demon-strated that new technologies such as Geographical Infor-mation Systems (GIS) and atmospheric simulationsoftware can play an important role in air pollution studiesand in understanding the interaction of chemical pollu-tants and topology. It is important at the public healthlevel because of the numbers of population exposed toestablish control measures to avoid premature deathsrelated to environmental occupational risks.[20–23] The tox-icity levels incurred by radioactive lignite burning in theMegalopolis were demonstrated to be high enough tocause concern for human health risks. Samples were col-lected from air, ground and vegetation in the surroundingareas and analysed for radioactivity. High energy levels(up to 4–5 times higher than recommended standards)were found in several samples containing 226Ra,239U and40K.

A dispersion analysis indicates how the lignite plumestransport over the area for several wind directions. Itwas determined that in Megalopolis additional monitor-ing, analysis and regulations should be undertaken bylocal, regional or national authorities. Exposure to con-tinuously high levels of radioactivity in the air, groundvegetation and potentially the food chain is a seriousthreat to public health, and societies must remain vigi-lant to establish control measures to avoid high levels ofdisease related deaths.Future work based on the methodologies and technolo-

gies presented here should be carried out with more airpollution samples and analyses of dispersion. In particular,it is recommended to expand this work based on existingand newly collected data of 236Ra and 239U from the Meg-alopolis site. The development of simulation of chemicalradiation dispersion and the radiation decay into other iso-topes would provide more precision and a better ability tojudge the impact on health.

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