IAEA Director General Visits Purification Facility at Polish Thermal Power Station
On the occasion of his first official stay in Poland, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, today (March 6) visited an industrial scale Electron Beam Demonstration Facility constructed with IAEA assistance at the Pomorzany Electric Power Station near Szczecin. The facility uses an electron beam device to purify flue gases from the burning of coal emitted through the plant’s chimney stack, thereby helping to protect the environment. By the addition of ammonia, the process also permits the production of fertilizer as a by-product.
In countries such as Poland where power generation is based largely on the burning of coal, to protect the atmosphere against serious consequences of pollutants, special facilities for limitation of the emissions have been installed.
Most nations around the world are committed to limiting gas emissions from power plants, and recent global treaties require countries to pass and implement laws limiting national sulphur dioxide emissions. Limits on nitrous oxide are also being introduced in many countries including Poland.
The electron beam process allows simultaneous and effective removal of both pollutants. In addition, it is less costly and produces less waste than conventional "wet scrubbing" and catalytic reduction techniques. It is a safe and proven technology which has the collateral benefit of producing a useful by-product for agriculture.
The work at the Pomorzany Electric Power Station has been underway since the mid-1990s involving a total investment of nearly US $20 million. Of this amount, Poland has contributed US $13 million, the IAEA (through its Technical Co-operation Fund) US $2.5 million, Japan US $2.9 million and the Republic of Korea US $50,000.
In visiting the plant, the Director General said: "Electron beam purification is an excellent example of how nuclear techniques can be used to reduce the emissions from conventional power sources. Experience gained here at Pomorzany will help to demonstrate the environmental effectiveness and economic competitiveness of this technology. It also serves to illustrate how the Agency, working with its Member States, can provide advanced nuclear techniques to industrial companies".
China has plans to introduce the technique on a broad scale while the first industrial plant has been already in operation at Chengdu since 1999. Other countries considering the technology include Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Japan, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine and the USA.
For further information please contact: IAEA Division of Public Information, Tel. (43-1)2600-21270/21275 Fax: (43-1) 2600-29610, e-mail: Official Mail@iaea.org
A fact sheet on the technique is available here.