From Felicity Jones
Chester
David Cursons suggests that Guy Fawkes may be responsible for as much
atmospheric sulphur pollution as Powergen or National Power (Letters, 16
November, p 60). The verdict must be not guilty. A single boiler in a
600-megawatt power station can consume fuel at a rate of around 4000 tonnes per
day and, in Britain, they rarely have equipment to control gaseous pollutants.
In some cases they burn coal with a sulphur content of over 3 per cent, compared
to 10 per cent for black powder. So, to equal the mass of sulphur belching from
the stack of just one power station boiler during 5 November we would need to
let off over ten million boxes of fireworks.
The would-be regicide might, however, be charged with one other offence
against the Clean Air Act. The smog that may form on 6 November is caused by
vast quantities of particulate matter released from bonfires. This is one
pollutant that coal-fired power stations do attempt to control.
