Cumberland Power Plant
Encyclopedia
Cumberland Power Plant is a 2.6-GW pulverized coal
-powered power station
located at 36°23′29"N 87°39′17"W in Cumberland City
, Tennessee
, USA
, on the south bank of Lake Barkley
on the Cumberland River
.
Owned and operated by Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA), it produces the most electricity of all plants in the TVA system.
is delivered by barge
s along the Cumberland River
waterway. The plant consumes about 20,000 tons of coal a day.
(SO2) emissions, both units at Cumberland use wet limestone scrubber
s. To reduce nitrogen oxide
s (NOx), the units use low-NOx burners as well as selective catalytic reduction systems, which were completed in 2004.
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
-powered power station
Power station
A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric energy....
located at 36°23′29"N 87°39′17"W in Cumberland City
Cumberland City, Tennessee
Cumberland City is a town in Stewart County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 316 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Clarksville, TN — KY Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, on the south bank of Lake Barkley
Lake Barkley
Lake Barkley, a reservoir in Livingston, Lyon, and Trigg counties in Kentucky and extending into Stewart and Houston counties in Tennessee, was impounded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1966 upon the completion of Barkley Dam. Both the lake and the dam are named for Vice President Alben...
on the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
.
Owned and operated by Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
(TVA), it produces the most electricity of all plants in the TVA system.
Tall chimneys
It has one of the tallest chimneys in the world at 1,001 feet (305 m), built in 1970.Individual units
Its identical Units 1 and 2, rated at 1.3 GW each, were launched into service in March and November, 1973. In 2004, the two units accounted for almost 12% of TVA's total electricity generation.Coal delivery
Bituminous coalBituminous coal
Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tarlike substance called bitumen. It is of higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than Anthracite...
is delivered by barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s along the Cumberland River
Cumberland River
The Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
waterway. The plant consumes about 20,000 tons of coal a day.
Pollution and releases into environment
| Pollutant | Air | Water | Land | Offsite disposal | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antimony Antimony Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite... compounds |
39 | 178 | 8,947 | 0 | 9,164 |
| Arsenic Arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid... compounds |
182 | 119 | 46,096 | 0 | 46,397 |
| Barium Barium Barium is a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56. It is the fifth element in Group 2, a soft silvery metallic alkaline earth metal. Barium is never found in nature in its pure form due to its reactivity with air. Its oxide is historically known as baryta but it reacts with... compounds |
142 | 0 | 279,200 | 25 | 279,367 |
| Beryllium Beryllium Beryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl... compounds |
10 | 0 | 9,952 | 1 | 9,963 |
| Cadmium Cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, bluish-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Similar to zinc, it prefers oxidation state +2 in most of its compounds and similar to mercury it shows a low... compounds |
|||||
| Chromium Chromium Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable... compounds |
368 | 142 | 87,420 | 7 | 87,937 |
| Cobalt Cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal.... compounds |
63 | 89 | 19,887 | 1 | 20,040 |
| Copper Copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish... compounds |
286 | 6,798 | 64,120 | 3 | 71,207 |
| Lead compounds | 253 | 0 | 59,122 | 3 | 59,378 |
| Manganese Manganese Manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It has the atomic number 25. It is found as a free element in nature , and in many minerals... compounds |
558 | 33,864 | 177,130 | 18 | 211,570 |
| Mercury Mercury (element) Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum... compounds |
240 | 0 | 346 | 0 | 586 |
| Nickel Nickel Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile... compounds |
516 | 2,504 | 98,180 | 6 | 101,206 |
| Selenium Selenium Selenium is a chemical element with atomic number 34, chemical symbol Se, and an atomic mass of 78.96. It is a nonmetal, whose properties are intermediate between those of adjacent chalcogen elements sulfur and tellurium... compounds |
2,501 | 2,075 | 6,573 | 0 | 11,149 |
| Silver Silver Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal... compounds |
|||||
| Thallium Thallium Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. The two chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy... compounds |
36 | 0 | 30,200 | 2 | 30,239 |
| Vanadium Vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the metal against oxidation. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature... compounds |
290 | 0 | 191,560 | 13 | 191,864 |
| Zinc Zinc Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2... compounds |
2,006 | 2,447 | 248,070 | 12 | 252,534 |
| Hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid is a solution of hydrogen chloride in water, that is a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses. It is found naturally in gastric acid.... (aerosol Aerosol Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples are clouds, and air pollution such as smog and smoke. In general conversation, aerosol usually refers to an aerosol spray can or the output of such a can... ) |
340,006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 340,006 |
| Hydrogen fluoride Hydrogen fluoride Hydrogen fluoride is a chemical compound with the formula HF. This colorless gas is the principal industrial source of fluorine, often in the aqueous form as hydrofluoric acid, and thus is the precursor to many important compounds including pharmaceuticals and polymers . HF is widely used in the... |
72,006 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72,006 |
| Sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates... (aerosol) |
8,793,606 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8,793,606 |
| Benzo(g,h,i)perylene Perylene Perylene or perilene is a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon with the chemical formula C20H12, occurring as a brown solid. It or its derivatives may be carcinogenic, and it is considered to be a hazardous pollutant. In cell membrane cytochemistry, perylene is used as a fluorescent lipid probe... |
0.21 | 0 | 0.65 | 0 | 0.87 |
| Dioxin | 0.008 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.008 |
| Polycyclic aromatic Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons , also known as poly-aromatic hydrocarbons or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, are potent atmospheric pollutants that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents. Naphthalene is the simplest example of a PAH... compounds |
49.8 | 0 | 59.2 | 0.0 | 109.0 |
| Naphthalene Naphthalene Naphthalene is an organic compound with formula . It is a white crystalline solid with a characteristic odor that is detectable at concentrations as low as 0.08 ppm by mass. As an aromatic hydrocarbon, naphthalene's structure consists of a fused pair of benzene rings... |
100 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 |
| Ammonia Ammonia Ammonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . It is a colourless gas with a characteristic pungent odour. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to food and fertilizers. Ammonia, either directly or... |
3,640 | 316 | 0 | 0 | 3,956 |
| Nitrate Nitrate The nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a... compounds |
0 | 128,879 | 0 | 0 | 132,407 |
Environmental protection measures
To reduce sulfur dioxideSulfur dioxide
Sulfur dioxide is the chemical compound with the formula . It is released by volcanoes and in various industrial processes. Since coal and petroleum often contain sulfur compounds, their combustion generates sulfur dioxide unless the sulfur compounds are removed before burning the fuel...
(SO2) emissions, both units at Cumberland use wet limestone scrubber
Scrubber
Scrubber systems are a diverse group of air pollution control devices that can be used to remove some particulates and/or gases from industrial exhaust streams. Traditionally, the term "scrubber" has referred to pollution control devices that use liquid to wash unwanted pollutants from a gas stream...
s. To reduce nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide
Nitrogen oxide can refer to a binary compound of oxygen and nitrogen, or a mixture of such compounds:* Nitric oxide, also known as nitrogen monoxide, , nitrogen oxide* Nitrogen dioxide , nitrogen oxide...
s (NOx), the units use low-NOx burners as well as selective catalytic reduction systems, which were completed in 2004.