The external costs of power generation

There has been growing concern about the external costs of power generation, particularly the generation of power from coal. A major effort by a team from the European Union produced the ExternE study, which concluded that the external costs were a strong function of such variables as the population density in the area around the power station, the local climatology and the level of pollution control employed. There was therefore a wide range of external costs. Other studies have ignored the ExternE, and attempted a number of shortcut methods which have had a doubtful theoretical basis. Typically, they have relied on an assumption of linear no-threshold, which in effect states that no matter how low the dose, harm will result. The assumption almost certainly overestimates the impact and therefore the external costs. The linear no-threshold theory is therefore examined, and it is concluded that it is most unlikely to be valid. Overall, the social benefits of power so far exceed the social “external” costs that one can conclude that power generation is well-merited, even from coal.