Dust is an inherent part of any city. Even non-industrial towns like Alexandria are susceptible to dust from many sources: cars, wind, construction sites, playing fields and more. Even so, Potomac River Generating Station is doing its part to reduce dust.

We have always paid a lot of attention to housekeeping both inside and outside the building. As part of our normal course of business, we:

• Maintain a rigorous maintenance program for our ash handling system;
• Use a water truck to wet down plant roads on dry, sunny days;
• Wash down all ash hauling trucks prior to leaving the facility to remove any fugitive dust;
• Wash our ash handling area daily to remove any dust from the roadway;
• Installed a water spray nozzle system at the end of the coal stackout chute, the device that puts coal on the coal storage pile; and
• Installed barriers at the entrance and exit of the railroad car dumper to contain any fugitive dust from unloading coal cars.

Nonetheless, when neighbors raised concerns about residual dust from coal and ash handling at the Potomac River Generating Station, we listened, investigated and responded. In response to one complaint, samples were taken from the home of a community member and analyzed for fly ash and coal residue with a scanning electron microscope. No evidence of either was found in the samples.

In the meantime, we have implemented $1 million in dust suppression solutions that are proving successful. As part of our consent decree with the City of Alexandria, we:

• Erected wind erosion fencing, approximately 1,000 feet in length, 12-feet tall and featuring 50 percent porous windscreen, to contain windblown coal dust;
• Installed an ash truck washer which cleans trucks before they enter city streets. This piece of equipment captures the particulate matter and also recycles the water used;
• Implemented the use of a binding agent that is placed on the coal en route to the coal pile to prevent coal particles from being blown in the wind;
• Installed a dust control system on our ash silos to eliminate the potential for dust to escape from silo vents;
• Installed “dustless” ash unloaders to control the release of dust when transferring ash to trucks;
• Installed a water spray dust suppression system at the transfer point between the ash loaders and trucks;
• Installed a water spray dust suppression system on the coal car dumper to reduce fugitive dust from unloading coal from rail cars; and
• Are conducting a settled dust study to determine the frequency and severity of dust transport at our facility. Daily samples are taken around the boundary of the plant and paired with meteorological data to gain insight on dust sources at the plant.

Monitoring

We monitor several dust suppression systems in the fuel and ash handling area. Operators make routine checks on a daily basis to verify performance of all dust suppression equipment. We also ensure trucks are covered, pavement is appropriately rinsed, and windscreens are intact.