Can You See Radiation From Coal-Burning Power Plants?

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 2011-03-29 13:01

There are those who say that burning coal puts more radionuclides into the atmosphere that does nuclear. Can you see that?

‹ Is your source data available? What about Iodine-129 - Half-Life is 15 Million Years ›

Thank you very much for

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-03-30 07:22.

Thank you very much for doing the air sampling!! You're the only source I trust.

It is difficult to

Submitted by Brian (not verified) on Tue, 2011-03-29 17:47.

It is difficult to differentiate background levels of radionuclides in the atmosphere from radionuclides from coal plants, since coal contains natural isotopes. So we would see the same radiation signature as natural background, but at a higher level. I have heard it said that the west coast does indeed see elevated levels of radionuclides due to coal burning in China.

The California Department of Public Health says that coal power plants cause 3.3 times as much radiation dose as nuclear power plants within 50 miles, according to a chart displayed on this article: http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_17719939?nclick_check=1

and what about compared to a broken nuclear power plant ????

Submitted by Ingrid (not verified) on Wed, 2011-03-30 01:27.

...from an earthquake or any emergency that results in a power outage longer than 4 hours?

In the U.S. most nuclear plants only have backup batteries for 4 hours --half as long as Fukushima--and these batteries are not strong enough to run cooling operations, only strong enough to maintain power for indicators and valves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/30/us/30safety.html?ref=asia

(if they are even kept charged, which apparently is another problem:)
http://www.truth-out.org/tokyo-electric-build-us-nuclear-plants-the-no-b...

sorry, but really... the comparison here is off the charts.

Ghoulish to sell nuclear power while the bodies are not yet cold

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-03-30 01:49.

Agree that the comparison is inappropriate at this time. You do not see bodies found outside coal plants so radioactive that the police abandon them.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110329p2a00m0na017000c.html

And you do not see the Navy fleeing runaway coal plants.

Not a good time at all to sell nuclear power.