Nuclear Technology for Cleaning Coal Emissions

Abstract

The reduction of SO2 and NOx pollutants from flue gases, emitted during fuel combustion in electrical power and heat production, is one of the radiation processes that was successfully demonstrated in many laboratories and pilot plant facilities. The radiation process for removing those pollutants was invented in Japan, with research on this technology development also continued in the United States, Germany, and Poland. The world’s first full-scale industrial plant has just begun its operation in China. Two other industrial facilities for flue-gas treatment are being constructed in Poland and Japan. It has been clearly established that the industrial implementation of the electron-beam (EB) process for flue-gas treatment requires accelerator modules with beam power of 300 kW or more and electron energy in the range of from 0.8 to 1 MeV. Accelerators suitable to fulfil such requirements are based on high-power, high-voltage transformers according to the present state-of-the-art accelerator technology. Induction-linac technology, which was developed for military application, is being demonstrated now as an appropriate technical and cost-effective competitive alternative.