Title: Is coal ash toxic? Investigations from the ash spill in Kingston Tennessee.
Coal burning power plants are responsible for the production of ~40% of the electricity in the US. As a by-product of this process millions of tons of residual fly ash are also produced. On December 22, 2008, an impoundment failure at the TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant (Kingston, Tennessee) resulted in the largest coal ash spill in US history releasing approximately 1,000,000,000 gallons of coal ash into the Emory River. As a result a full scale sampling campaign was conducted to assess what constituents of coal ash were of concern and whether they were at concentrations considered to be toxic. During his presentation, Dr. Otter will discuss his findings and those from other scientists that investigated this spill.
