[NYFriend]

I heard that “more energy in the radioactive materials, than in you get from burning the coal”, once before (inside a nuclear power plant). I was behaving at the time (and on thin ice as it was), so I didn't ask. Is that like e=mc2 vs energy released from burning, or is that like either radiation, or fission potential. One way would be highly misleading, the other would be very interesting.

[TexasGator]

"Is that like e=mc2 vs energy released from burning"

Burning is E=MC^²

[chimera]

Check any nuclear engineering text for the energy release per reaction. IIRC it is about 200 MeV per fission (about 200 MeV is recoverable), and about 25 MeV per fusion (d-d reaction). Much higher energy release per reaction because the reactions involve the nucleus. Chemical reactions (burning coal) involve rearranging molecular bonds, which are electromagnetic forces. Nuclear forces are much stronger, so you get more energy output from rearranging a nucleus than you do a molecule. (Simplified explanation.)