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The assessment of health impacts and external costs of natural gas-fired power plant of Qom

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Abstract

The external health damage costs of the combined cycle natural gas-fired power plant of Qom were investigated via the simplified impact pathway approach. Emitted particulate matter (PM10) and gaseous pollutants (NO x , CO, and SO2) from the power plant stack were measured The health effects and related costs were estimated by QUERI model from AirPacts according to the emissions, source and stack parameters, pollutant depletion velocities, exposure-response functions, local and regional population density, and detailed meteorological data. The results showed that the main health effect was assigned to the nitrate as restricted activity days (RAD) with 25,240 days/year. For all pollutants, the maximum health damage costs were related to the long-term mortality (49 %), restricted activity days (27 %), and chronic bronchitis (21 %). The annual health damage costs were approximately 4.76 million US$, with the cost being 0.096 US per kWh of generating electricity. Although the health damage costs of gas-fired power plant were lower than those of other heavy fuels, it seems essential to consider the health and environmental damages and focus on the emission control strategies, particularly in site selection for the new power plants and expanding the current ones.

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Acknowledgments

This research was done with the financial and technical support of the Institute for Environmental Research (IER) of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (grant number: 94-01-46-28392) and tha Research Center for Environmental Pollutants, Qom University of Medical Sciences (grant number: 94589). The authors wish to express their appreciation to the Tavanir Holding Company for the technical and data support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Reza Fouladi Fard, Kazem Naddafi, Masud Yunesian, Ramin Nabizadeh Nodehi & Mohammad Hadi Dehghani

  2. Center for Air Pollution Research (CAPR), Institute for Environmental Research (IER), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Kazem Naddafi, Masud Yunesian, Ramin Nabizadeh Nodehi & Mohammad Sadegh Hassanvand

  3. Institute for Environmental research, Center for Solid Waste Research, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Hadi Dehghani

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  1. Reza Fouladi Fard
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  2. Kazem Naddafi
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Correspondence to Kazem Naddafi.

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Fouladi Fard, R., Naddafi, K., Yunesian, M. et al. The assessment of health impacts and external costs of natural gas-fired power plant of Qom. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 20922–20936 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7258-0

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