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Comment by soperj

6 hours ago

Coal also produces radioactive byproducts. They just release them into the air.

Brazil nuts and bananas are radioactive too, compared to other foods — but do not pose risks compared to coal ash.

Similarly, while coal ash is nasty stuff that kills lots of people, it lacks many of the qualities that make spent nuclear fuel especially difficult to manage even in small amounts.

For example, a “dirty bomb” made by packing coal ash around conventional explosives would be far less effective than one made from spent nuclear fuel.