As the other poster said, it's better than living next to a coal burning plant. The coal burning plant would actually release more radioactive material into the environment than a nuclear power plant would.
I’ve heard this before, but is there any reason to think that the issue goes beyond the fact that CO2 has a higher natural level of radiation than H2O?
incomplete combustion\plenty of other stuff in the ground in it(heavy metals etc.). The smoke is not just CO2.
Plus " sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are the primary causes of acid rain. In the US, About 2/3 of all SO2 and 1/4 of all NOx comes from electric power generation that relies on burning fossil fuels like coal."
http://www.policyalmanac.org/environment/archive/acid_rain.s...
and acid rain causes a number of environmental problems.