The impact of emissions from the Šoštanj thermal powerplant on winter SO2 pollution in Central Europe

Abstract

The simulation of the wintertime transport of sulphur dioxide based on emissions made in three winter months from December 1999 to February 2000 by the thermo electric power plant located in Šoštanj (TEŠ) in Slovenia is presented. Our study is focused on estimation the regional distribution of SO₂ from this source – the range and level of its impact on Central Europe. The dispersion model MEDIA (Piedelievre et al., 1990), coupled with the meteorological fields of Aladin/LACE (Janoušek 1999), and the operational model for weather forecasting over Central Europe were used. The simulation was run on all winter days of the simulation period. The daily results were accumulated and averaged into monthly and seasonal estimates of air pollution caused by emissions from the TEŠ. As expected, their biggest effects are seen in the nearest regions. Despite the relatively high emission levels, high concentrations with damaging effects are mainly limited to regions approximately 50 km from the source. Slightly increased pollution levels, distinguishable from the background threshold, also spread across other parts of Slovenia, southern parts of Austria, northern parts of Croatia, western Hungary and north-eastern Italy. The TEŠ’s contribution to air pollution in selected neighbouring cities is estimated. On a regional scale, the results of deposition are compared with an LADM evaluation (Berge and Jakobsen, 1998).