# Downside of coal electric generation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downside-of-coal-electric-generation/453631>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [June 20, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downside-of-coal-electric-generation/453631 "2008-06-20T22:31:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![focusonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@focusonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/focusonz)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downside-of-coal-electric-generation/453631/1 "2008-06-20T22:31:24Z")

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Byproducts of coal fired electrical plants are more radioactive than nuclear plants!

> [@](#):
>
> How does the amount of nuclear material released by coal combustion compare to the amount consumed as fuel by the U.S. nuclear power industry? According to 1982 figures, 111 American nuclear plants consumed about 540 tons of nuclear fuel, generating almost 1.1 x 10E12 kWh of electricity. During the same year, about 801 tons of uranium alone were released from American coal-fired plants. Add 1971 tons of thorium, and the release of nuclear components from coal combustion far exceeds the entire U.S. consumption of nuclear fuels. The same conclusion applies for worldwide nuclear fuel and coal combustion. [http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/...t/colmain.html](http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/...t/colmain.html)

Support natural gas conversions for automobiles  
Support drilling hydrocarbon to power America!  
Support building nuclear reactors to power America!  
Support Elimination of the trade imbalance!

What will we die from first, pollution or Global warming or terrorists or no energy that we can afford?

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**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downside-of-coal-electric-generation/453631/2 "2008-06-20T22:40:49Z")

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…

I weep for the state of science education in this country.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downside-of-coal-electric-generation/453631/3 "2008-06-21T00:34:32Z")

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Excerpt much? From the very same document you cited:

> [@](#):
>
> All studies of potential health hazards associated with the release of radioactive elements from coal combustion conclude that the perturbation of natural background dose levels is almost negligible.

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**Author:** ![Public\_Animal\_No.9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Public\_Animal\_No.9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Public_Animal_No.9)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/downside-of-coal-electric-generation/453631/4 "2008-06-21T13:28:48Z")

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[QUOTE=focusonz]  
What will we die from first, pollution or Global warming or terrorists or no energy that we can afford?  
[/QUOTE]

So if you have all the energy you want and we wipe out all the terrorists and you die from pollution a few days later, is that a victory?