Slideshow: America's Ten Riskiest Nuclear Reactors

April 1, 2011 • 3:30 am PDT
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Ever since the tragic earthquake and tsunami struck Japan and sparked a nuclear crisis at Fukushima, Americans have been anxiously wondering if something like that could ever happen here. While there have been lots of very cool (and pretty scary) map mashups of nuclear reactor sites and fault lines and areas of high seismic activity, there haven't been many reports about the actual seismic threat to our nuclear reactors.

Well, it just so happens that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has actually calculated the odds of earthquake damage for each of the 104 nuclear reactors in the United States. Bill Dedman at MSNBC got his hands on the numbers. He writes:

Each year, at the typical nuclear reactor in the U.S., there's a 1 in 74,176 chance of an earthquake strong enough to cause damage to the reactor's core, which could expose the public to radiation. No tsunami required. That's 10 times more likely than you winning $10,000 by buying a single ticket in the Powerball multistate lottery, where the chance is 1 in 723,145.

You might think that the two plants in fault-lined California would be the most vulnerable. You'd be wrong. The riskiest California reactor is ninth on the list. Surprisingly, the eight that rank above it are all located east of the Mississippi—in Massachusetts and Virginia and South Carolina and New York and elsewhere. Number one is a stunner.

So here's a look at the ten U.S. nuclear reactors most at risk of having a core damaged by an earthquake. The odds generated by the NRC take into consideration two main factors: the chance of a serious quake, and the strength of design of the plant. They also factor the changes in USGS data from 1989 to 2008.

Read more about the NRC's nuclear risk assessment at MSNBC.

Graphic, used with permission, from Short Form Blog.

Ben Jervey
Contributing Editor, Environment

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The odds listed were generated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and reflect the chances of an earthquake causing damage to each reactor's core. The odds take into consideration two main factors: the chance of a serious quake, and the strength of design of the plant. They also factor the changes in USGS data from 1989 to 2008.

Read more about the NRC's nuclear risk assessment at MSNBC.

Posted in: The New Ideal,; Environment,

Tags: nuclear,; earthquake,; seismic,; nukes,; nuclear regulatory commission,; nuclear risk

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