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Environmental and human health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in soils around the largest coal-fired power station in Southern Russia

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Abstract

The combustion of solid fuel at power plants pollutes adjacent areas with potentially toxic elements (PTEs), which increases risks to public health in the vicinity of these facilities. The proposed paper presents the results of a geochemical study of PTEs (Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb) contamination in the vicinity of Novocherkassk Power Plant (NPP) as it relates to environmental and human health risks. The impact zone of NPP is pronounced for a distance of approximately 7 km northwest of the enterprise—the second largest coal power plant in Southern Russia. Data from monitoring sites lead us to conclude that spatial patterns of soil pollution are strongly influenced by the peculiarities of local atmospheric circulation, while the characteristics of soils within the study area play a secondary role. The highest levels of PTEs and their exchangeable forms exceed both regional background and sanitary and hygienic standards within a radius of 3 km to the west of the plant, which corresponds to a zone of soils contaminated with Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb. The carcinogenic risk to human health slightly exceeds the permissible standard of 1 × 10−6 for soils in close vicinity of the enterprise due to the potential human intake of Ni, Cd, and Pb. The results of the health risk assessment indicate no noncarcinogenic risks for adults, while for children, they are low.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Russian Foundation of Basic Research (Project Nos. 19-05-50097 and 19-34-60041).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Federal University, 194/1 Stachki ave., Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation

    Tatiana Minkina, Elizaveta Konstantinova, Tatiana Bauer, Saglara Mandzhieva, Svetlana Sushkova, Victor Chaplygin, Marina Burachevskaya & Alexey Maksimov

  2. Federal Research Centre, Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation

    Tatiana Bauer

  3. State Center for Agrochemical Service “Rostov”, Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation

    Olga Nazarenko

  4. Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey

    Rıdvan Kizilkaya & Coşkun Gülser

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  1. Tatiana Minkina
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  2. Elizaveta Konstantinova
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Minkina, T., Konstantinova, E., Bauer, T. et al. Environmental and human health risk assessment of potentially toxic elements in soils around the largest coal-fired power station in Southern Russia. Environ Geochem Health 43, 2285–2300 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-020-00666-4

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