What goes up must come down?
Others are looking to sequestered coal ash as the cause of the high rates of thyroid cancer to the East of Marshall Steam Station, which I disagree with. Downwind implies an airborne emissions source (fly ash, etc). The fly ash/particulate and condensed water vapor(when dew point is high) will build up on high voltage transmission lines and increase external ionizing radiation (Corona discharge/UVc). External Ionizing radiation is a known cause of thyroid cancer according to Duke Energy’s MIT Scientist 🙂
“Radiation is the only known environmental exposure that has been clearly linked to thyroid cancer. And coal ash contains radium at low levels. So how can we know coal ash doesn’t cause thyroid cancer? In short: Studies have shown radioactive iodine causes thyroid cancer, while radium does not.
Two very specific types of radiation are associated with thyroid cancer: external ionizing radiation and exposure to iodine-131. Yet as DHHS noted, extensive tests show no community exposures to this type of radiation around the McGuire Nuclear Station site during the past 40 years. [They have never reported testing on UVc ionizing radiation emissions in the past 40 years, oops! forgot to tell you!]
Want to see “External Ionizing Radiation” in the air around high voltage transmission lines and insulators? It increases when there is particulate buildup on insulators and in the air near high voltage equipment. Here you go:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/flashover
“Deposition of a pollution layer due to exposing to the sea, road salt, insoluble dust, and various forms of industrial pollution such as sulfates from coal—fired electric power plants [2].”….
“Pollution flashover characteristics of double porcelain insulators. Compared to single insulators, the pollution flashover voltage of double insulators will decline, and the decline of the antipollution capability of double insulators directly makes the pollution flashover of double insulators occur more during field operation, so the installing space of double insulators shall be paid attention to in field operations. Pollution flashover faults on transmission lines happened 40 times in one area during 1998–2003, among them faults occurred 14 times in double insulators, 15 times in single insulators, and 11 times in total in the insulators of other installation types. The pollution flashover probability in double insulators is far bigger than that in single insulators.”
https://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q9450.html
“The shorter-wavelength, higher-energy UV radiation associated with the UVC category is very strongly absorbed by most organic materials. … The UVC radiation is sufficiently energetic that individual photons may produce chemical bond breakage and ionization of some atoms and molecules.”
https://www.icnirp.org/en/frequencies/uv/ultraviolet.html
“Exposure of the eyes to high levels of UV radiation is also harmful. Intense UV exposure can cause inflammation of the cornea (outer surface of the eye) and retinal damage (rear of the eye). Long-term exposure causes degenerative changes such as unwanted tissue growth on the cornea, opacities of the lens known as cataracts, degeneration of the retina, and various eye cancers.”
- https://news.duke-energy.com/our-perspective/science-instead-of-speculation-examining-coal-ash-and-health-concerns?fbclid=IwAR1z9dXtuyJZeeZNsZ-UnBmwxy3zbu_gSa0CsUvcSQ28ebn1A_to5du4p8w
- https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Marshall_Steam_Station#Table_1:_Death_and_disease_attributable_to_fine_particle_pollution_from_Marshall_Steam_Station
- https://deq.nc.gov/public-notice-intent-issue-air-quality-permit-duke-energy-carolinas-llc-marshall-steam-station-0
- https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/9/2/87/htm
- https://deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/deq-orders-coal-ash-closures/facilities-and-permits
- https://www.powermag.com/scrubbing-optimizing-flue-gas-desulfurization-technologies-is-essential/
- https://www.iea-coal.org/wet-scrubbers-for-particulate-control/
- https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/2194/MortonV_MP.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
- https://res.mdpi.com/d_attachment/applsci/applsci-09-00856/article_deploy/applsci-09-00856.pdf
- https://deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/deq-orders-coal-ash-closures/facilities-and-permits
Dark Matters a Lot 
