When you look at cancer rates down wind of coal fired plants, it is evident.

Sounds to me like a good reason to be building a lot of nuke plants.

But good luck with that, given the Luddites running the White House and the environmentalist groups.

that's some bad stuff.

Yeah! That way we can Fookashima our country too!

If anything this should be a call to expand research in more renewable forms of power generation, solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, etc.

Between the solar panels and the small turbine I have on my home, most months I sell power back to the grid.

Yeah! That way we can Fookashima our country too!

If anything this should be a call to expand research in more renewable forms of power generation, solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, etc.

#4 | Posted by 726

Oh no! Mommy! Are you watching TV? Could that happen here!?

Quit being a pussy. Don't build nuke plants on fault lines, or on the beach. Duh.

Abundance of Radioactive Elements in Coal and Fly Ash
Coals with more than 20 ppm uranium are rare in the United States. Thorium concentrations in coal fall within a similar 1â€"4 ppm range, compared to an average crustal abundance of approximately 10 ppm. Coals with more than 20 ppm thorium are extremely rare.

The radiation hazard from airborne emissions of coal-fired power plants was evaluated in a series of studies conducted from 1975â€"1985. These studies concluded that the maximum radiation dose to an individual living within 1 km of a modern power plant is equivalent to a minor, perhaps 1 to 5 percent, increase above the radiation from the natural environment. For the average citizen, the radiation dose from coal burning is considerably less. Components of the radiation environment that impact the U.S. population are illustrated in figure 4. Natural sources account for the majority (82 percent) of radiation. Man-made sources of radiation are dominated by medical X-rays (11 percent). On this plot, the average population dose attributed to coal burning is included under the consumer products category and is much less than 1 percent of the total dose.

Summary
Radioactive elements in coal and fly ash should not be sources of alarm. The vast majority of coal and the majority of fly ash are not significantly enriched in radioactive elements, or in associated radioactivity, compared to common soils or rocks. This observation provides a useful geologic perspective for addressing societal concerns regarding possible radiation and radon hazard.
The location and form of radioactive elements in fly ash determine the availability of elements for leaching during ash utilization or disposal. Existing measurements of uranium distribution in fly ash particles indicate a uniform distribution of uranium throughout the glassy particles. The apparent absence of abundant, surface-bound, relatively available uranium suggests that the rate of release of uranium is dominantly controlled by the relatively slow dissolution of host ash particles.
Previous studies of dissolved radioelements in the environment, and existing knowledge of the chemical properties of uranium and radium can be used to predict the most important chemical controls, such as pH, on solubility of uranium and radium when fly ash interacts with water. Limited measurements of dissolved uranium and radium in water leachates of fly ash and in natural water from some ash disposal sites indicate that dissolved concentrations of these radioactive elements are below levels of human health concern.

Quit being a pussy. Don't build nuke plants on fault lines, or on the beach. Duh.

#6 | POSTED BY RIGHTISRIGHT AT 2012-01-27 10:54 AM | REPLY | FLAG:

FAIL!

Radioactive elements in coal and fly ash should not be sources of alarm.

There go the sales of Weber BBQ grills.

"The waste produced by coal plants is actually more radioactive than that generated by their nuclear counterparts."

So small trace amounts of nuclear particles are actually more deadly than the actual tons of nuclear waste material produced by a nuclear power plant. I see.

#11 | Posted by daniel_3 at 2012-01-27 12:17 PM | Reply | Flag: clueless

Better look up the definition of "small."

LOL

I'm slowly coming to the conclusion, everyone on this planet is insane. Myself included.

There go the sales of Weber BBQ grills.

#10 | Posted by KBM

Good reason to hijack this thread. My old Weber gas grill was great. About two years ago I lit it to burn off the grill. Unknown to me a raccoon had stolen the drip pan. I was on the phone and not really watching it because I had never really had any reason to in the past. 20 minutes later I found it and my deck on fire. The wheels were melted away along with a 5 gallon bucket that had been reduced to a puddle of plastic. It didn't take long to put it out and the grill went to the dump. Now I'm stuck with a crappy Char Broil from Home Depot.

Better look up the definition of "small."

LOL

#12 | Posted by Zatoichi at 2012-01-27 12:19 PM | Reply | Flag:

Go shove a teaspoon of nuclear waste up your ass, see how long you last.

and yet they won't build nuclear power plants either. huh...

President Obama leaves event promoting clean energy in a motorcade of 22 fossil-fueled vehicles

Fly ash is sooo dangerous that the power companies sell it to concrete manufactures to make our road and houses.

The problem with coal is that burning it aerosolizes all of the impurities and dumps them straight into the air you breathe. That includes stable elements like mercury, cadmium, nickel, and arsenic that are "merely" toxic.

There's a difference between handling a lump of a toxic metal and inhaling its dust.

President Obama leaves event promoting clean energy in a motorcade of 22 fossil-fueled vehicles #17 | Posted by ExpsRedemption

Nice optical, They saved or created energy savings by not taking the tour buses. ExpsRedemption, You simply must learn to think liberal!

the Delaware Division of Public Health has finally confirmed what the activists suspected: There's a cluster of cancer cases near a coal-burning plant, the state's worst polluter.

#9 | Posted by 726 at 2012-01-27 11:44 AM | Reply | Flag:

Clusters of cancer cases, blamed on any particular source, are normal and common.

When people hear some statistic like "2-out-of-10 people will blah, blah, blah....." they automatically picture a line of people with every 5th person stepping forward.

That stupidity leads to stupidity like this post.

The reality is that all disease occurs in cluster. There are a billion factors beyond the local power lines that contribute to disease.

Sure, 2-out-of-10 will get something, but that's an aggregate of millions of people over 120 years.