Environmental hazard assessment of coal ash disposal at the proposed Rampal power plant

ABSTRACT

A proposed coal-fired power plant at Rampal, Bangladesh will produce over 38 million tons of ash during 60 years of operation at 90% electric load generation capacity. The ash disposal pond would be full in twelve years even if half of all fly ash is used in concrete and brick production, leaving at least 20 million tons of ash with a disposal plan that is limited to surface impoundment and unlined fills, which are known to cause groundwater and surface water pollution. At Rampal, probable storm tides of 7.4 meters would breach the ash pond walls during the operational life of the coal plant, potentially resulting in catastrophic failure and massive spills of ash. Seasonal monsoon flooding would cause the ash pond itself to overflow, releasing huge volumes of contaminated water. Ash disposal for the proposed coal-fired power plant at Rampal, Bangladesh, would release toxic heavy metals into the waterways of the Sundarbans Delta and Bay of Bengal, which is a World Heritage Site and includes globally important mangroves, endangered aquatic species, and a fishery that feeds hundreds of thousands of poor people. The economic damage cost of the Rampal Plant could exceed $US 100 million dollars per year.

KEYWORDS:

• Rampal power plant
• coal ash pond
• toxic metals
• selenium
• wildlife poisoning
• Sundarbans Delta
• Bay of Bengal

Acknowledgments

I thank Lisa Evans, Jessica Lawrence, and Ramin Pejan for their constructive reviews of the manuscript. I also thank Lucas P. Lemly for producing the photographs used in the Lake Sutton case example.

Notes

¹ Lean slurry is the diluted ash as it is originally mixed for transport to a surface impoundment disposal pond. This differs from High Concentration Slurry Disposal (HCSD), proposed for the Rampal Power Plant, which undergoes a dewatering process to reduce volume and water content, while concentrating the solid material and producing a thicker “paste” matrix that is deposited in the pond.

Additional information

Funding

Financial support for this technical analysis was provided by Earthjustice, Philadelphia, PA.