Health risks of SO2 released from coal-fired plants: a model for general evaluations

A model recently proposed for evaluation of health risks from airborne effluents released by the nuclear cycle is applied to SO2 release by coal-fired plants. The main feature of the model is that it makes such evaluations extremely simple by not requiring any detailed knowledge of the local concentrations of the pollutant considered. A schematization of the behavior of the pollutant into the atmosphere is proposed taking into account deposition and SO2-SO4 conversion. An example of application is worked out and discussed.