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Deals with a holistic approach needed in coal-handling safety. How to handle the Powder River Basin coal; Consequences of dust and pills; How to prevent the dangers of fire and explosion; Dust control alternatives; Factors that contribute to successful risk-management plans. INSET: PRB Coal Users Group to convene in March.

The article states that despite the now-widespread use of Powder River Basin (PRB) coals, the designs of coal-handling equipment, including coal transfer chutes, have changed little over the past 50 years. PRB coals' friability and dustiness create operational and safety risks: greater coal spillage, higher emissions of respirable fugitive dust, and the possibility of spontaneous combustion. The industry-wide increase in safety risks is reflected in the growth of reported PRB coal dust-related fires and explosions over the past decade. To manage these risks, many coal-fired central stations that switched to PRB coal added personnel to their coal yards to pay closer attention to cleanliness and maintenance of coal-handling equipment. Conventional coal transfer chute designs have numerous shortcomings. New transfer chute designs address these shortcomings by controlling the flow of material within the chute to reduce dust, entrained air, wear, and damage to receiving conveyor belts. Curved hood/spoon transfer chutes are more costly to design, build, and maintain than traditional, simpler chutes.

The article offers information on coal-handling and safety management programs adopted by Luminant's electric power plant Big Brown that has won PRB Coal Users' Group's (PRBCUG) 2008 Plant of the Year award in the U.S. The power plant was awarded in recognition of its continuous improvements to coal-handling systems and safety management programs. The plant uses a mixture of PRB coal and lignite that reduces the fuel ash content, results in volatile matter, lowers sulfur content and increases the higher heating value when compared to firing lignite alone. The plant is inspected twice per year by the risk management staff of Luminant for fire hazards.

The article informs that 2,400-MW Jeffrey Energy Center (JEC) in Kansas was honored in the April 2003 issue of periodical "Power" as the Powder River Basin (PRB) coal plant of the year. Recently, JEC marked another milestone by receiving its 200-millionth ton of PRB coal from Foundation Coal West Inc.'s Eagle Butte mine in Gillette, Wyoming. The amount of PRB coal shipped to America's power plants has increased markedly over the past decade. PRB coal now represents 41% of all coal delivered to those plants. Because JEC takes delivery of about 36,000 tons of PRB coal daily and about 10 million tons annually, the plant's consumption represents more than 2.5% of the nation's total. Significantly, recent deliveries to JEC have not been curtailed by the slowdown in coal traffic caused by two train derailments in the Powder River Basin this May. JEC is owned by Topeka-based Westar Energy, the firm that employs former PRB Coal Users' Group Chairman Randy Rahm as its director of fuel services.