MERCURY RESIDUES IN SOIL AROUND A LARGE COAL-FIRED POWER-PLANT

Seventy soil samples were collected on a radial grid around the Four Corners power plant. The soil samples were analyzed for total mercury using a Zeeman atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Even though the plant emits 1-2% of all the mercury released by U.S. coal-fired utilities, the soil residue levels near the plant were low and did not differ statistically from background. Relatively high concentrations were found in the samples taken west of the plant near the fly ash ponds and just east of the plant. While the fate of mercury emitted by the plant is not yet known, it is not accumulating in the soil surrounding the plant's environs. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.