Cliff wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jun 2005 13:39:37 -0400, JohnM wrote:


I guess you have to pick your issues.. here's one I came across on
another group:

Did you know that:
"Trace quantities of uranium in coal range from less than 1 part per million
(ppm) in some samples to around 10 ppm in others. Generally, the amount of
thorium contained in coal is about 2.5 times greater than the amount of
uranium."
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/...t/colmain.html

Did you know that:
"total world consumption of coal in 2001, at 5.26 billion short tons"
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ieo/pdf/coal.pdf

Doing the math shows that between 5.26 thousand and 52.6 thousand *TONS* or
uranium were dumped into the environment in just that single YEAR, as
by-products of coal-burning. Multiply by 2.5 for thorium...

There's one assumption in there that I don't believe is perfect, but
it's a very interesting issue.. among many.


You may wish to do some fact & math checking --- I
don't have the time today .....

http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/Coal...-CCW1jul93.htm
[
Total U.S. releases in 1982 (from 154 typical plants) amounted to 801
tons of uranium (containing 11,371 pounds of uranium-235) and 1971
tons of thorium. These figures account for only 74% of releases from
combustion of coal from all sources. Releases in 1982 from worldwide
combustion of 2800 million tons of coal totaled 3640 tons of uranium
(containing 51,700 pounds of uranium-235) and 8960 tons of thorium.
]

99.5% + of this is locked in the fly ash I think.

That's entirely possible. I was simply pointing out that there's more
issues than one in the world and we each have to chose which concerns us.

John