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The ridiculous thing about all of this is plain topsoil has between 0-4ppm of uranium and thorium. Means fly ash is roughly as radioactive as dirt. However pointedly in modern coal fired plants fly ash it scrubbed[1].

Deal with Uranium and thorium is normal geological processes aren't very efficient at concentrating either. Which means commercially exploitable ores are rare and the element remains widely distributed.

[1] It's a bit more tricky since part of the radioactivity from uranium and thorium is due to decay products, some of which probably escape out the stacks. (See radon).




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