No sun in Newgrange due to incinerator!??

The above title could be true if theory is close to reality, according to Victor Reijs who is involved in the archaeocosmology aspects of megalithic monuments. He has investigated the possibilities of cloud formation due to the exhaust plumes of the planned incinerator Indaver near the Boyne Valley. With certain wind speeds and relative humidities, clouds formed due to the incinerator's exhaust could obstruct the sun light at sun rise around winter solstice, thus decreasing the chances of having sun light inside the Newgrange chamber.

As known, Indaver has gotten permission from Meath Country Council to build an incinerator near the Boyne Valley. Looking from the Newgrange chamber towards the rising sun around winter solstice, one can image that clouds in that path can block the sun light coming into the chamber (this path is some 2.5 km in south-westerly direction of the planned location of the incinerator).

Clouds can always be present in the Irish climate (only 10% of the days will have a clear horizon). But clouds formed by the plume coming from the Indaver incinerator can increase the cloud formation even more, when the wind direction, wind speed and humidity are unfavorable.
Victor Reijs has contacted many experts on subjects including plume rise, atmospheric water concentration to cloud formation and this resulted in his theory that more clouds could be formed due to this incinerator. As with a lot of theoretical investigations, one needs to check this in practice. It is a pity that no extensive models yet exist, so checking the theory still has to be done. Hopefully not by building an incinerator and just watch if it will happen or not!
Victor Reijs hopes that his work will convince experts in the plume rise field to develop and run suitable models of incinerator visible plume extent. Such work would prove whether the frightening headline suggested above could be correct. We owe that to the unique national heritage we have in Newgrange.

Every year on the first days in December the sister building of Newgrange, Maes Howe in Orkney, receives a light flash of some 2 minutes inside its chamber as a warning of the coming winter solstice event. Perhaps this can now be interpreted as a sisterly warning to investigate the behavior in more detail of this incinerator near the Boyne Valley.

More information can be gotten from: http://www.iol.ie/~geniet/eng/indaver.htm

Victor Reijs, December 4^th, 2001