Health and environmental effects document on geothermal energy: 1981
Description
Several of the important health and environmental risks associated with a reference geothermal industry that produces 21,000 MW/sub e/ for 30 y (equivalent to 20 x 10/sup 18/ J) are assessed. The analyses of health effects focus on the risks associated with exposure to hydrogen sulfide, particulate sulfate, benzene, mercury, and radon in air and arsenic in water. Results indicate that emissions of hydrogen sulfide are likely to cause odor-related problems in geothermal resources areas, assuming that no pollution controls are employed. For individuals living within an 80 km radius of the geothermal resources, chronic exposure to particulate sulfate could … continued below
Physical Description
67 pages
Creation Information
Layton, D. W.; Anspaugh, L. R. & O'Banion, K. D. December 4, 1981.
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This report is part of the collection entitled: Office of Scientific & Technical Information Technical Reports and was provided by the UNT Libraries Government Documents Department to the UNT Digital Library, a digital repository hosted by the UNT Libraries. It has been viewed 125 times. More information about this report can be viewed below.
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Place of Publication: [Livermore,] California
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Description
Several of the important health and environmental risks associated with a reference geothermal industry that produces 21,000 MW/sub e/ for 30 y (equivalent to 20 x 10/sup 18/ J) are assessed. The analyses of health effects focus on the risks associated with exposure to hydrogen sulfide, particulate sulfate, benzene, mercury, and radon in air and arsenic in water. Results indicate that emissions of hydrogen sulfide are likely to cause odor-related problems in geothermal resources areas, assuming that no pollution controls are employed. For individuals living within an 80 km radius of the geothermal resources, chronic exposure to particulate sulfate could result in between 0 to 95 premature deaths per 10/sup 18/ J of electricity generated. The mean population risk of leukemia from the inhalation of benzene was calculated to be 3 x 10/sup -2/ cases per 10/sup 18/ J. Exposure to elemental mercury in the atmosphere could produce between 0 and 8.2 cases of tremors per 10/sup 18/ J of electricity. Inhalation of radon and its short-lived daughters poses a mean population risk of 4.2 x 10/sup -1/ lung cancers per 10/sup 18/ J. Analysis of skin cancer risk from the ingestion of surface water contaminated with geothermally derived arsenic suggests that a dose-response model is inconsistent with data showing that arsenic is an essential element and that excessive body burdens do not appear even when arsenic reaches 100 ..mu..g/liter in drinking water. Estimates of occupational health effects were based on rates of accidental deaths and occupational diseases in surrogate industries. According to calculations, there would be 14 accidental deaths per 10/sup 18/ J of electricity and 340 cases of occupational diseases per 10/sup 18/ J. The analysis of the effects of noncondensing gases on vegetation showed that ambient concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide are more likely to enhance rather than inhibit the growth of plants.
Physical Description
67 pages
Notes
NTIS, PC A04/MF A01.
Subjects
Keywords
- Accidents
- Air Pollution
- Aromatics
- Arsenic
- Benzene
- Biological Effects
- Body
- Carcinogenesis
- Chalcogenides
- Chemical Effluents
- Diseases
- Elements
- Energy
- Environmental Impacts
- Fluids
- Gases
- Geothermal Industry
- Geothermal Legacy
- Growth
- Hazards
- Health Hazards
- Human Populations
- Hydrocarbons
- Hydrogen Compounds
- Hydrogen Sulfides
- Industry
- Leukemogenesis
- Lungs
- Mathematics
- Mercury
- Metals
- Mortality
- Nervous System Diseases
- Nonmetals
- Occupational Diseases
- Organic Compounds
- Organs
- Oxygen Compounds
- Particles
- Particulates
- Pathogenesis
- Plant Growth
- Plants
- Pollution
- Populations
- Production
- Public Health
- Radon
- Rare Gases
- Respiratory System
- Risk Assessment
- Semimetals
- Skin
- Statistics
- Stimulation
- Sulfates
- Sulfides
- Sulfur Compounds Geothermal Legacy 150600* -- Geothermal Energy-- Environmental Aspects
- Water Pollution
STI Subject Categories
- 15 Geothermal Energy
- 29 Energy Planning, Policy And Economy
- 299002 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Geothermal-- (-1989)
- 500200 -- Environment, Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
- 520200 -- Environment, Aquatic-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
- 54 Environmental Sciences
- 552000 -- Public Health
- 560303 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Plants-- (-1987)
- 560306 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Man-- (-1987)
- 63 Radiation, Thermal, And Other Environ. Pollutant Effects On Living Orgs. And Biol. Mat.
- 99 General And Miscellaneous//Mathematics, Computing, And Information Science
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- Other: DE82007989
- Report No.: UCRL-53232
- Grant Number: W-7405-ENG-48
- Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.2172/5349877
- Office of Scientific & Technical Information Report Number: 5349877
- Archival Resource Key: ark:/67531/metadc1065103
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- December 4, 1981
Added to The UNT Digital Library
- Feb. 4, 2018, 10:51 a.m.
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Layton, D. W.; Anspaugh, L. R. & O'Banion, K. D. Health and environmental effects document on geothermal energy: 1981, report, December 4, 1981; [Livermore,] California. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1065103/: accessed June 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.