RADIOACTIVITY IN THE ATMOSPHERIC EFFLUENTS OF POWER PLANTS THAT USE FOSSIL FUELS.
Analysis of the fly ash produced by combustion of pulverized Appalachian coal has shown that a 1000-megawatt coal-burning power plant will discharge into the atmosphere from about 28 millicuries to nearly 1 curie per year of radium-226 and radium-228. An oil-burning plant of similar size will discharge about 0.5 millicurie of radium per year. Comparison of these data with data on the release of fission products from nuclear-powered generating stations shows that when the physical and biological properties of the various radionuclides are taken into consideration, the conventional fossil-fueled plants discharge relatively greater quantities of radioactive materials into the atmosphere than nuclearpowered plants of comparable size.
D000397:Air Pollution; D000398:Air Pollution, Radioactive; D003031:Coal; D060729:Coal Ash; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D007456:Iodine Isotopes; D007726:Krypton; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D009688:Nuclear Reactors; D010578:Petroleum; D011210:Power Plants; D011851:Radioactivity; D011868:Radioisotopes; D011883:Radium; D013910:Thorium
D003031:Coal; D060729:Coal Ash; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D007456:Iodine Isotopes; D010578:Petroleum; D011868:Radioisotopes; D007726:Krypton; D013910:Thorium; D011883:Radium
AIR POLLUTION, RADIOACTIVE; ATOMIC ENERGY; COAL; IODINE ISOTOPES; KRYPTON; NUCLEAR REACTORS; PETROLEUM; RADIOISOTOPES; RADIUM; THORIUM