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This paper presents the development process and key findings of the first-ever health impact assessment (HIA) conducted on the proposed Alpu coal-fired power plant (ACPP) in Eskisehir, Turkiye. The study followed a systematic HIA methodology, commencing with an extensive literature search on coal-fired power plants and the region's specific characteristics during the screening step. In the subsequent scoping phase, in-depth discussions were conducted with a diverse range of experts and stakeholders to be used as inputs. The study findings highlight that the ACPP's impact on human health will be multifaceted. In addition to the estimated additional 10,000 premature deaths attributed to air pollution during the 35-year, the ACPP is expected to have implications for occupational health, including increased occupational diseases and injuries. Furthermore, it may also affect income, employment, food access, and nutritional quality. The health implications of the ACPP will extend beyond Eskisehir, potentially affecting a region with a current population of approximately 11 million residents throughout its lifetime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flue gas desulfurization (FGD) process eliminates Sulphur dioxides from flue gas produced by the combustion of fossil fuels in furnaces, boilers, and other sources. Limestone is an essential element for the FGD process in coal-fired thermal power plants. FGD system contributes efficaciously to the prevention of air pollution through its limestone/gypsum treatment in greater reliability, higher efficiency, and more capability. The selection of the limestone suppliers is thus a crucial task to improve environmental aspects and reduce cost. To optimize the selection of limestone suppliers, appropriate criteria determination and an effective solution approach are the central undertakings, which need to be made scientifically. Addressing the multi-criteria nature of the selection process, this study introduces a new Multi-Criteria-Decision-Making (MCDM) approach to evaluate supplier selection and deliver a group decision making (GDM) method in an ambiguous and fuzzy environment. The proposed method also takes decision makers' judgments into account in times of pressure, bias, and lack of expertise during the evaluation process. Consequently, this study, for the first time, integrates the Pythagorean Fuzzy Sets (PFSs), Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), and Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) under GDM setting. This paper, also for the first time, includes the analyses of an evaluation for the right supplier selection in a thermal power plant. A real case study from Turkey is applied to illustrate the validity of the proposed approach. Sensitivity analysis and comparison of the results with the existing techniques are also presented to verify the significance of the found outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the radiological and heavy metal risk assessment to evaluate the impact of coal-fired power plants on humans and the environment in Turkey. Radiological evaluation was performed in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. For the freshwater reference organisms, total dose rates for insect larvae, mollusc bivalve, and gastropod, and zooplankton show radiological risk. Non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks, contamination factor, ecological risk, and geoaccumulation index for heavy metal risk assessment are the aspects of interest. Long-term exposure of children to heavy metals in coal may cause non-carcinogenic harmful effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the concept of the ‘environmentalism of the malcontent’ to characterise a type of environmental activism that is increasingly common in Turkey. It illustrates its argument by analysing the resistance movement against the proposed Gerze coal power plant. By so doing, it problematises the relationship between class and environmental consciousness as well as the ability of the existing literature to accurately characterise the underlying motivation of movements against development projects. It shows that the mobilisation in Gerze was not rooted only or primarily in environmental concerns but animated by disaffection with, among other things, neoliberal developmentalism, disregard of democratic policy-making and violent suppression of societal dissent by the state. ‘Environmentalism of the malcontent’ describes the way in which long-lasting dissatisfaction with broader processes marking the development trajectory of the country combined with personal experience in radical political action enabled a group of urban, mostly retired, residents of Gerze to successfully collaborate with peasant activists against the construction of the power plant by deploying arguments regarding its potential negative environmental impact. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a study performed on the radiological character of the Çatalağzi Thermal Power Plant (ÇTPP/ÇATES), on the west Black Sea coast of Turkey. Natural radioactivity distribution of the terrestrial radionuclides 238U, 232Th, and 40K of surface soil samples around the ÇTPP was analyzed. The average radioactivity concentrations for 232Th, 238U, and 40K for soil samples were 39.7, 30.5, and 378.7 Bq kg-1, respectively. 238U and 40K concentrations are lower than the world average values, 35 Bq kg-1 and 400 Bq kg-1, respectively, and the 232Th concentration is higher than the world average value, 30 Bq kg-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study quantifies the environmental risk of a coal‐fired thermal power plant during operation by using environmental monitoring data, site surveys, and documented evidence. The following criteria are assessed: emissions (CO, SO2, NOx, PM10), impact on aquatic ecosystem (fish protection at cooling water intake and cooling water discharge temperature), and waste management (fly ash and bottom ash). Fuzzy sets were defined for each criterion, taking environmental regulatory context as an expert judgment. A survey was conducted with multiple stakeholders to determine the relative importance of risk factors. The survey results showed that the most concerned risks are SO2 and NOx emissions. The proposed method estimates the risk of each environmental criterion separately and then accumulates them into an environmental risk index (ERI). Accordingly, we assessed the Catalagzi coal‐fired power plant, which has been in operation on the Black Sea coast in northwestern Turkey. For this case study, the ERI resulted in a value of 0.78 (on a scale of 0–1), showing high environmental risk to the facility. Moreover, the applicability of the proposed framework was tested in several existing coal‐fired power plants using simultaneous measurements. All studied coal‐fired power plants in Turkey have unacceptable pollutants (PM10, SO2, and NOx) concentration levels indicating high health risk potential. The application of the integrated environmental risk assessment framework showed that new environmental regulations are needed in Turkey to specify more strict emission limits and to monitor CO2, fine particulate matter emissions, cooling water discharge, and fish protection at cooling water intake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkish government aimed to increase the installed capacities of coal-fired power plants (CFPPs) according to several policies and strategic plans published in recent years. Energy production from CFPPs and subsidizing the coal sector were selected for reducing the import dependency as a cheaper option. CFPPs with gaseous emissions as well as fly ash and fine dust, along with ash storage, coal storage, and coal mining operations and water use for cooling of the plants, affect the environmental quality. Hence, the health of inhabitants of the environment is affected. CFPPs to be built, according to strategic plans, will emit a significant amount of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and would severely undermine the targets for a 1.5 ℃ or 2 ℃ warmer world. Subsidies to the coal sector, along with exemptions from environmental regulations, combined with slower growth of energy production from renewable energy sources (RES), may lead to a path dependence on coal, while the rest of the world increases their energy production from RES. This study demonstrates the concrete examples of pollution caused by CFPPs in Turkey, along with health effects with the addition of policy context toward utilization of CFPPs, to point out the risks these plants constitute both for the environment and economy. Increasing the share of RES in the energy mixture is particularly important for Turkey due to being in a geographical region that is highly vulnerable to climate change effects. This study also briefly discusses how the increase of RES and de-carbonization in Turkey could be conducted in the short- and long-term, upon the literature provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental and economic life cycle assessment of a real‐life run‐of‐the‐river type hydroelectricity power plant in Turkey has been performed by considering the following stages: raw material acquisition, construction (including waste management), and transportation. CCaLC2 software and CML2001 methodology were used to calculate six different environmental impacts, whereas the economic impact was chosen as the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). Functional unit was 1 MWh of electricity generated. The environmental impacts were found to be on average 95% lower than those of the Turkish grid, and the LCOE was calculated as $58.4/MWh. This outcome is understandable considering the high share of fossil fuels, especially low‐quality lignite, in Turkish electricity grid. The results were compared to those of a similar study conducted abroad and all the impacts were found to have the same order of magnitude, proving that this study is methodologically consistent with the literature. The main conclusion is that hydroelectricity produced by run‐of‐the‐river type plants in Turkey is environmentally friendly and economically viable compared to grid electricity. This is the first study in Turkey on the life cycle impact analysis of hydroelectricity and one of the few studies that consider economic and environmental factors simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper we study the economic feasibility of constructing a 560MW coal-fired power plant in Turkey, using real options theory . We start from a short review of the Turkish electricity market as well as the literature on real options theory and power plant investment. We then investigate the peculiarities and uncertainties related to large-scale power generation. Our special research focus is on the determination of the real options value of the sequential nature of the power plant project considered. To this end, we develop a sequential investment model based on the binomial tree model of Cox et al. . The four stages considered are (1) initial project development; (2) detailed planning and permitting; (3) first major project payments; and (4) release of final order. We find that especially for the strategic planning of projects the application of the real options analysis (ROA) can be very useful. The relatively high option value compared to the net present value (NPV) of the project makes clear that the flexibilities of reacting during project realization, depending on the market developments, can be assigned a substantial value. A further advantage of the ROA for a staged or sequential investment lies in the fact that it also delivers, besides the option value of the investment, the optimal strategy for exercising the option (i.e. if and when to invest). The revelation of action possibilities and their examination sheds new light on the conventional calculation of the NPV of such projects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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In this study, epiphytic lichen Xanthoria parietina was applied as the biomonitor of air pollution to determine the environmental influence in the vicinity of Soma coal-fired power plant. Thalli of lichen Xanthoria parietina growing on olive, oak and poplar trees were collected with their substrate in 2004–2006. They were taken from 44 different stations located in 3×3 km grids within an area of 30 km in diameter around the Soma power plant near the town of Soma. Lichen samples were analyzed by using the ICP-MS for As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Pb, Se, Th, U, V and Zn elements and their concentrations were mapped. The sample analyses results were evaluated by using the statistical software (SPSS 11). Average element contents of samples were, in descending order, Fe > Zn > V > Pb > Cr > Cu > Ni > As > Co > U > Th > Se > Cd > Hg. Results obtained in the current study were generally found to be higher than the data reported in literature although some lower values exist for Cd, Co, Hg, Ni, Pb elements. The most polluted areas were found to be those in the vicinity of the coal-fired power plant, particularly along the direction of predominant wind and in the corridor which runs from west to southeast direction due to topographic conditions. We believe that this research which is conducted around a coal-fired power plant will shed light on future research on pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]