Coal Ash: 130 million tons of waste

To learn more about coal ash and its dangers, visit CBS news and watch 60 minutes. Here's the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5362297n

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Good Old Coal, but is it dangerous?

The myth whether coal power plants are more radioactive than nuclear power plants exists for two reasons; on one hand, everyone knows nuclear power plants are radioactive. On the other hand, coal was used before radioactivity was discovered, so people don’t associate coal to radioactivity. Also, in movies, nuclear power plants are the ones that blow up. The accident at Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 also reinforced the fear of radiation exposure. It is due to extensive media coverage that people only think of a nuclear power plant as a source of radioactivity.

Coal’s content of uranium and thorium makes it radioactive since both of these elements are radioactive. When coal burns into fly ash, the radioactive materials are concentrated up 10 times their original levels. According to Scientific American, the coal fly ash deposited within 0.5 to 1 mile from the smoke stack carries 100 times more radiation into the environment than a nuclear power plant providing the same amount of energy, as long as there are no accidents. If the radiation of levels of the complete nuclear fuel cycle, including mining and waste disposal, is considered, coal is still more radioactive than nuclear, but only 3 times. It is necessary to mention that the radiation from even the coal power plants is much less than the naturally occurring radiation.
Scientific American disproves this myth. According to measurements referred to in the article, coal power plants emit more radioactive materials than nuclear power plants. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory also disproves this myth.

The article of J. B. McBride, a scientific researcher, brings detailed calculations of how much radiating material is emitted from coal in the U.S. and the world. He doesn’t take a side in presenting supporting data; therefore, his opinion seems objective. For these reasons, the evidence that coal power plants are more radioactive than nuclear power plants is reliable.

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