Present investigations focus on the radioactivity emissions
from the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz power station, a
2420 MW thermal power plant located on the west coast of
peninsular Malaysia, opened in March 1987 to become thefirst
coal-fired plant in the country. The plant also has the ability to fire
natural gas and bunker oil. Situated near to the township of Kapar,
the plant is sometimes referred to accordingly. Since this power
plant is located near to Kapar town, a relatively populated area, the
estimation of consequent radiological risk to residents could well
be a matter of local interest, also being a potential model situation
for coal-fired power plants situated under similar circumstances.
While coal has been used for some 100 years in producing
electrical energy, it is suggested that information regarding the
magnitude of the environmental releases remains to be sufficiently characterized. Challenging this paucity of information is
considered to be all the more important given that it has been
estimated that World coal-fired power plant capacity will have
grown from 1.759 TW in 2010 to 2.384 TW in 2020 (The McIlvaine
Company).In present regard, coal-fired power in Asia has been
estimated to rise to 1.464 TW in 2020, up from 0.918 TW in 2012.
As such, the work herein forms a study of surface soils contamination around the power plant and the possible long term
exposure levels to the public and plant workers. This study also
seeks to give an indication of the efficiency of the power plant
emission control systems