NAVIGATION   Home   News   About Us   Contact Us   TVA Findings (MSDS)      > Bottom Ash      > Fly Ash   Our Stories   Is Coal Clean ?   Health Hazards   Current Health Impacts   Videos   Property Sales   Photographs	Posted On 04-05-2009 :: COAL ASH -- is composed primarily of oxides of silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, titanium, sodium potassium, arsenic, mercury, sulfur, uranium, and thorium. FLY ASH -- is composed of non-combustible silicon compounds (glass) melted during combustion. Tiny glass spheres form the bulk of the fly ash. The main sources of radiation released from coal combustion include not only uranium and thorium but also daughter products produced by decay of these isotopes, such as, radium, radon, polonium, bismuth, and lead. The fact that coal-fired power plants throughout the world are the major sources of radioactive materials released to the environment has several implications. It suggests that coal combustion is more hazardous to health than nuclear power and that it adds to the background radiation burden even more than does nuclear power. It also suggests that if radiation emissions from coal plants were regulated, their capital and operating costs would increase, making coal-fired power less economically competitive. Americans living near coal-fired power plants are exposed to higher radiation doses than those living near nuclear power plants that meet government regulations. During combustion, the volume of coal is reduced by over 85% which increases the concentration of the metals originally in the coal. Although significant quantities of ash are retained by precipitators, heavy metals such as uranium tend to concentrate on the tiny glass spheres that make up the bulk of the fly ash. This uranium is released to the atmosphere with the escaping fly ash, at about 1.0% of the original amount, according to NCRP data. The retained ash is enriched in uranium several times over the original uranium concentration in the coal because the uranium and thorium content is not decreased as the volume of coal is reduced. Large quantities of uranium and thorium and other radioactive species in coal ash are not being treated as radioactive waste. These products emit low-level radiation, but because of regulatory differences, coal-fired power plants are allowed to release quantities of radioactive material that would provoke enormous public outcry if such amounts were released from nuclear facilities. These waste products from coal combustion are allowed to be dispersed throughout the biosphere in an unregulated manner. Collected coal ash wastes that accumulate on electric utility sites are not protected from weathering, thus exposing people to increasing quantities of radioactive isotopes through air and water movement and the food chain. By collecting the uranium residue from coal combustion, significant quantities of fissionable material can be accumulated. In a few year's time, the recovery of the uranium-235 released by coal combustion from a typical utility anywhere in the world could provide the equivalent of several World War II-type uranium-fueled weapons. Consequently, fissionable nuclear fuel is available to any country that either buys coal from outside sources or has it own reserves. The material is potentially employable as weapon fuel by any organization so inclined. Although technically complex, purification and enrichment technologies can provide high-purity, weapons-grade uranium-235. Fortunately, even though the technology is well known, the enrichment of uranium is an expensive and time-consuming process. In short, naturally occurring radioactive species, which can be especiated to the particular plant, released by coal combustion are accumulating in the environment along with minerals such as mercury, arsenic, silicon, calcium, chlorine, and lead, sodium, as well as metals such as aluminum, iron, lead magnesium, titanium, boron, chromium and others that are continually dispersed in millions of tons of coal combustion by-products. The potential benefits and threats of these released materials will someday be of such significance that they should not now be ignored. These exerts were from a report by Alex Gabbard, ORNL. 1993 report.: http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html Thank you for reading this. Diana Anderson	LINKS TCASN Blog Bucket Brigade Kentucky Sierra Club on TVA Kingston MSNBC Testimony WSMV Testimony Testimony Day 2 Nashville House Committee Meeting Story by Carlan Tapp LIFE ON SWAN POND AFTER TVA UNITED MOUNTAIN DEFENSE Evyns Disaster