The other side of the waste equation is also worse for coal. Fly ash is typically radioactive enough that if it were produced at a nuclear facility it would be

The other side of the waste equation is also worse for coal. Fly ash is typically radioactive enough that if it were produced at a nuclear facility it would be categorized as nuclear waste. To be clear, burning coal concentrates the uranium and thorium that naturally occur in coal by a factor of about 10. There is still only a very small amount. Living within the stack shadow (~1km) of a coal fired plant only increases your exposure to background radiation by about 5%