Assessment of Non-Carcinogenic Risk for the Population in the Location of the Coal Enrichment Enterprise

This study was conducted in order to assess the risk of possible development of non-carcinogenic effects on the health of population living near of a coal enrichment plant. Risk assessment is carried out for at the first time for studying coal preparation plant and the nearest settlements. Previously, the main criterion for the industrial emissions and environmental protection measures plan was maximum permissible concentrations (MPC), that are hygienic standards. The methodology of risk assessment for public health is currently a tool of sanitary and epidemiological orientation, which is not used in the field of environmental regulation. The study results showed that applying of risk assessment methodology provides a number of advantages in comparison with the traditional methods of environmental regulation in Kazakhstan, based on the correlation of actual pollution levels with MPC. Assessment of the risk to public health makes possible to establish the interdependence between the chemical composition of atmospheric air and the probability of negative impact on human organs and systems. The study was carried out in several stages: chemical composition of industrial emissions of a coal preparation plant was studied; the dispersion of pollutants in the surface layer of the atmosphere was calculated; and non-carcinogenic risk to public health was assessed. The results of the study of non-carcinogenic health risk showed that living in the area of exposure to the enterprise is attended with a possibility of developing adverse effects on human organs. It has been established that the maximum levels of acute non-carcinogenic risk after inhalation of pollutants from atmospheric air are observed for inorganic dust with a silicon dioxide content of less than 20%. The maximum values of the total hazard indicators exceed the permissible values of indicators reflecting the negative state of the respiratory system. Indicated risk levels for exposure to coal enrichment factories per population are assessed as unacceptable. The research confirms the need to develop and implement emergency measures to reduce emissions of inorganic dust with silicon dioxide content below 20%.