Is nuclear energy cleaner than fossil fuels?

[Michaelangelica]

I am reading Karl Kruszelnicki's book "Sensational Moments in Science", ABC Press, 2001. He has an interesting take on this topic

"In 1982, some 111 (US)nuclear-fired power plants consumed about 540 tonnes of nuclear fuel.

In the same year, coal-fired power plants released over 800 tonnes of uranium." into the atmosphere.

"If a single nuclear-fired plant released 8K of uranium into the bio-sphere. there would be . .an enormous outcry."

He says the nuclear content of coal has not yet reached general public awareness in the same way that the greenhouse effect AIDs, or the ozone hole have.

There are no nuclear regulations about the disposal of coal ash

 

Coal apparently contains a heap of uranium and thorium

He concludes that you will get three times more radiation from a coal fired power plant than a nuclear fueled power plant! Thats if you include the complete nuclear fuel cycle mining, processing operating, disposal(!?)

If you don't include these your average coal-fired power plant puts out 100 times more radiation than a nuclear-fired plant.

p103-104

 

Then he doesn't mention that the States only stopped dropping 44gal. drums of used plutonium into the sea in 1990. How long does it take a tin to rust? Sixteen years?