LONDON (Jun 14, 1996 4:17 p.m. EDT) -- A British power station was given permission Friday to test if meat from cattle culled because of the mad cow scare can be used safely and efficiently as fuel. The government's Environment Agency said it granted permission for generator PowerGen to begin small-scale test burning of meat, bone meal and tallow from the government's slaughter scheme. "Tests and analyses will take place to confirm the material can be successfully burned without adversely affecting the environment," the agency said in a statement.The test is expected to last several weeks. "The test will cease should any potential for undesirable environmental effects be noted," it said. The test will not include any cattle product diagnosed as, or suspected of, suffering from bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) which can only be disposed of in designated incinerators. A BSE committee has advised the Ministry of Agriculture that incineration of bovine material in power stations, at temperatures of 1,400 degrees celsius, would be sufficient to ensure there was no risk to public health from smoke or ash. Copyright © 1996 Nando.net Copyright © 1996 Reuter Information Service
BY NICK NUTTALL, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT, AND CHRISTINE BUCKLEY
Power stations burn slaughtered cattle in quest for cheap fuel
The Times: Britain:June 15 1996A SMALL power station in the Midlands has been given the go-ahead to burn rendered meat and bone from the Government's cattle slaughter scheme. PowerGen, which has a test station at Ratcliffe, Nottinghamshire, will assess the viability of the products as a fuel. The industry hopes that such a fuel could deliver profits of up to £15 million over the next two years. National Power is expected to receive similar approval from the Environment Agency next week for a small power station at Didcot, Oxfordshire. The agency said that the products did not include any material from cows known or suspected to have BSE. Offal, in which the infectious agent can be found, has also been removed.
The purpose of the tests, which will be carried out over six weeks at the one-megawatt Ratcliffe station, is to see how well rendered meat, bone and tallow burn and what the enviromental emissions might be. Scientific experts, advising the Ministry of Agriculture, have concluded that incinera tion of cattle material in power stations would be safe, with no risk to communities near by or downwind.
It will be the first time that electricity generators have been used for the mass incineration of animals. If the tests are successful, the beef products will be pumped into bigger, coal-fired stations. The generators were asked by the Government to help with the huge task of incinerating cattle culled because of the BSE crisis. It is likely that power stations close to abattoirs will be used once the full operation begins. Small amounts of the beef products will be fired in the generation process, along with the coal.
Under a BSE-eradication plan being considered at a meeting of Europe's senior veterinary officers in Brussels yesterday, Britain has offered to cull 80,000 high-risk older beasts. However, a full-scale use of cattle products as fuel would require generators to consider other issues, such as the concerns of local residents and workers.
Roger Lilley, industry and pollution spokesman for Friends of the Earth, said yesterday: "This obviously represents a new departure for the power industry. We hope that there will be comprehensive monitoring of the emissions, particularly of the organic compounds, such as dioxins, which may well be produced from the burning of animal matter.
"We would like to see proper evaluation of any effects on public health, particularly of the communities living near by. Our other main concern is that this appears to be yet another example of how industry is being allowed by the Government to circumvent the normal processes of applying for planning permission for waste disposal. It appears that the Government is happy to turn a blind eye to the power stations operating as de facto animal waste incinerators."
THE Government is seriously considering using slaughtered cattle as fuel in power stations, Tony Baldry, the junior Agriculture Minister, said yesterday.
Cattle over 30 months old, regarded as more likely to be infected with mad cow disease, are being slaughtered under a £630 million scheme to keep them out of the food chain and restore consumer confidence in beef. The Ministry of Agriculture expects the much-delayed scheme, which began formally on May 1, to become "fully operational" today. Up to 25,000 cattle will be killed every week.
Farmers said yesterday they wanted cattle to be killed at a faster rate to clear the backlog of at least 150,000 unsaleable animals and to enable them to start receiving compensation. Farmers will be paid on average between £480 and £800 per animal.
Mr Baldry said all options for the animals were being considered. Prosper De Mul der, the biggest animal waste rendering company, said: "Bone meal [from cattle] produces more energy per tonne than chicken litter, which is used in some power stations, and has about two-thirds the energy value of coal."
The British government is reportedly offering a plan to fuel electric power plants with the ground-up meat and bones of the millions of cows set to be destroyed to combat mad cow disease in the UK. David Naish, president of Britain's National Farmers Union, said the plan could help to offset the "huge cost" of destroying the nearly 4.5 million cows
(Ray Moseley, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 4/16/96).