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A comment on Third-Biggest U.S. Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy. Parent comment

Re:Third-Biggest U.S. Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy by stephen_g on Monday May 13, 2019 @10:05PM (#19906175)
I think in general no. Even high quality coal has huge amounts of impurities, and coal in general is hugely variable in quality. Even with scrubbers etc. removing ash etc. you pump all sorts of dangerous emissions as well as the huge amount of CO2.

There exist “high efficiency low emissions” (HELE) coal stations, but that moniker is only true in relation to conventional coal stations. They’re still some of the dirtiest generation we have. From the experience of the ones we have in Australia, they appear to be more unreliable in hot weather than older coal plants too - I believe probably because they would operate at higher temperature/pressures to improve efficiency.

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Re:Third-Biggest U.S. Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy by dreamcompiler on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @12:23AM (#19906773)
Coal plants produce a lot of airborne radioactive compounds too -- vastly more than nuclear plants* and I don't know if scrubbers fix that problem. If they did, there would still be the problem of disposing of mixed waste from the scrubbers themselves.

*Citation not handy but easily googleable.

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Re:Third-Biggest U.S. Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy by amenod on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @05:20AM (#19907958)
Just to say it explicitly - the problem with nuclear plants is not radioactivity while they operate normally. It is the catastrophic consequences then something goes (really) wrong that are the real issue with them.
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Re:Third-Biggest U.S. Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy by dreamcompiler on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @08:26AM (#19908823)
Yes. Plus eventual waste disposal.
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Re:Third-Biggest U.S. Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy by EliRivers on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @10:29AM (#19909813)
If they were allowed to do it the same way coal is, it'd be no problem. Just chop it into fine particles and scatter into the atmosphere :)
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Re:Third-Biggest U.S. Coal Company Files for Bankruptcy by amenod on Tuesday May 14, 2019 @08:54AM (#19908979)
Yes.
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