Alternative Models for Risk Assessment of Toxic Emissions

This Note is the second in a series of RAND reports developing and applying a general methodology for assessing the control costs and chronic health risks of toxic pollutant emissions from coal-fired electric power plants. The first report, Risk-Cost Assessment Methodology for Toxic Pollutants from Fossil Fuel Power Plants, RAND/R-2993-EPRI, developed the methodological framework and applied it in a case study of arsenic emissions from a hypothetical coal-fired plant. This Note expands the description of the methodology in the first report by discussing (1) alternative models for the framework, (2) simplified environmental transport models that may be used for initial analysis, and (3) the implications of certain assumptions used in the exposure analysis. It also describes the application of the methodology, including the simplified models, to a second case study: selenium emissions from a coal-fired plant.