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Yes the radioactive decay products of the naturally occurring ore already in the ground naturally are still in the tailings. But they were there already before.
by smegger001 3y ago
Yes the radioactive decay products of the naturally occurring ore already in the ground naturally are still in the tailings. But they were there already before. With the removal of the uranium the net radioactive material left would be lower the the initial levels though no?
- pfdietz 3y agoThe daughter products will eventually decay away, but it will take a very long time. In particular, radium has a half life of 1600 years. In any case, these are exactly the same daughters as from the decay of uranium in coal, so the argument you are making there is equivalent to an argument that could be made about coal ash.
- smegger001 3y agobut in coal they are burning those decay products and putting them into the air to spread around not so with the uranium ore where those decay products go back to the same ground they were dug out of
- pfdietz 3y agoAlmost all the radioactive elements in coal go into ash, which is not emitted into the air. Do you have some vision of old coal plants where emissions were not controlled?