3 ms·
Coal ash tends to have a high volume of Carbon-14 which, in the volumes used to burn coal for electricity, releases significantly more radioactivity than any no
by connicpu 4y ago
Coal ash tends to have a high volume of Carbon-14 which, in the volumes used to burn coal for electricity, releases significantly more radioactivity than any normally operating nuclear plant. Even just a large pile of unburnt coal is much more radioactive than your average pile of rocks
- duskwuff 4y agoNo, that's incorrect. Coal is mostly carbon, but almost all of that carbon burns with the coal -- what's left over in the ash is whatever didn't burn, which is mostly minerals like silicon/aluminium oxides. Even the source coal has relatively low levels of C14 (since it's been buried for millions of years), and nothing about the combustion process would be likely to concentrate that in the ash. Radioactivity in coal ash is primarily due to small quantities of uranium in the coal. It's not significantly radioactive, though; the hazards it poses are more due to other heavy metals which are often present in the ash (lead, mercury, etc).