Abstract

When analyzing alternatives to locate a new industry or modify a production process that generates gaseous emissions, it is necessary to evaluate and quantify its environmental impacts, thus anticipating future inconveniences in the natural and social environment, in which the activity takes place. Under this framework, the objective of this work was to carry out an Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) as an instance before the establishment of a new industry, which was applied to the case study of a lead smelting plant in the province of Entre Rios, Argentina. For this, the projected activity data for said smelting plant were used, using the emission factors suggested by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Once the emissions were estimated, the dispersion of the pollutants was modeled using the Industrial Source Complex Short Term version (ISCST3) model, which allowed knowing the distribution of the concentration of atmospheric pollutants in the urban area of Villa Elisa (Entre Rios) and with the results obtained, an ERA was carried out. As a result of this research, a baseline was generated that allows estimating the potential impact on the health of exposed people as a pre-establishment to an industry that generates gaseous emissions.