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Do You Live Within 50 Miles of a Nuclear Power Plant?
Do You Live Within 50 Miles of a Nuclear Power Plant?
A new interactive map tells you exactly how far you live from a nuclear reactor
By Joseph Stromberg
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
MARCH 13, 2014
Quick: where's the nearest nuclear power plant?
RELATED CONTENT
The American Plan to Build Nuclear Power Plants in the Ocean
This is probably not a question you're asked all that often. But it's one worth knowing the answer to for a couple of reasons: the basic value in knowing where some of your electricity comes from and, in the extremely unlikely event of a meltdown, the practical knowledge of whether you'll have to evacuate your home.
Currently, if a radiological emergency occurs, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommends that anyone living within 10 miles of a plant to tune in to their local radio or television Emergency Alert System and heed the instructions from state or local officials. The commission also suggests that anyone within 50 miles to take action to protect local food and water supplies. Recently, some have have argued that the evacuation zone should be extended this far as well—and in 2011, after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, authorities from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended that Americans living within 50 miles of the plant to evacuate.
This is where a new nuclear proximity interactive map by Esri (one of their many cool disaster response maps) comes in handy. Scroll around to see the 65 active nuclear plants scattered across the U.S. surrounded by 10-mile (red) and 50-mile (yellow) radiuses, or plug in your address to get the exact distance you are from the nearest few plants. (Smithsonian.com's office, in case you're wondering, is 44.18 miles from the Calvert Cliffs plant in southern Maryland.) You can also turn on layers that show the locations of historic earthquakes and fault lines.
Seeing all the plants laid...
A new interactive map tells you exactly how far you live from a nuclear reactor
By Joseph Stromberg
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
MARCH 13, 2014
Quick: where's the nearest nuclear power plant?
RELATED CONTENT
The American Plan to Build Nuclear Power Plants in the Ocean
This is probably not a question you're asked all that often. But it's one worth knowing the answer to for a couple of reasons: the basic value in knowing where some of your electricity comes from and, in the extremely unlikely event of a meltdown, the practical knowledge of whether you'll have to evacuate your home.
Currently, if a radiological emergency occurs, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommends that anyone living within 10 miles of a plant to tune in to their local radio or television Emergency Alert System and heed the instructions from state or local officials. The commission also suggests that anyone within 50 miles to take action to protect local food and water supplies. Recently, some have have argued that the evacuation zone should be extended this far as well—and in 2011, after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, authorities from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended that Americans living within 50 miles of the plant to evacuate.
This is where a new nuclear proximity interactive map by Esri (one of their many cool disaster response maps) comes in handy. Scroll around to see the 65 active nuclear plants scattered across the U.S. surrounded by 10-mile (red) and 50-mile (yellow) radiuses, or plug in your address to get the exact distance you are from the nearest few plants. (Smithsonian.com's office, in case you're wondering, is 44.18 miles from the Calvert Cliffs plant in southern Maryland.) You can also turn on layers that show the locations of historic earthquakes and fault lines.
Seeing all the plants laid...
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/do-you-live-within-50-miles-nuclear-power-plant-180950072/?no-ist
17 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
smack dab in the middle of the Sonoran Desert 45 miles west of the center of Phoenix.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Verde_Nuclear_Generating_Station
If you aren't already familiar with the options, see:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/energy-and-water-use/water-energy-electricity-cooling-power-plant.html
The excerpt from that site is below, but first this write up from an engineering magazine discusses what's involved in going from once through to a closed loop system. I included it because it give a good where-the-rubber-meets-the-road look at the differences.
http://www.power-eng.com/articles/print/volume-117/issue-10/features/converting-once-through-cooling-to-closed-loop.html
Overview from UCS:
Even though all thermoelectric plants use water to generate steam for electricity generation, not all plant cooling systems use water. There are three main methods of cooling:
About 43 percent of thermoelectric generators in the United States use once-through cooling, 56 percent recirculating, and 1 percent dry-cooling (2008 data). In 2008, some 30 percent of electricity generation involved once-through cooling, 45 percent recirculating cooling, and 2 percent dry-cooling. (In some cases, those same power plants also produced electricity using non-steam systems, such as combustion turbines.)[4]
Once-through systems take water from nearby sources (e.g., rivers, lakes, aquifers, or the ocean), circulate it through pipes to absorb heat from the steam in systems called condensers, and discharge the now warmer water to the local source. Once-through systems were initially the most popular because of their simplicity, low cost, and the possibility of siting power plants in places with abundant supplies of cooling water. This type of system is currently widespread in the eastern U.S. Very few new power plants use once-through cooling, however, because of the disruptions such systems cause to local ecosystems from the significant water withdrawals involved and because of the increased difficulty in siting power plants near available water sources.
Wet-recirculating or closed-loop systems reuse cooling water in a second cycle rather than immediately discharging it back to the original water source. Most commonly, wet-recirculating systems use cooling towers to expose water to ambient air. Some of the water evaporates; the rest is then sent back to the condenser in the power plant. Because wet-recirculating systems only withdraw water to replace any water that is lost through evaporation in the cooling tower, these systems have much lower water withdrawals than once-through systems, but tend to have appreciably higher water consumption. In the western U.S., wet-recirculating systems are predominant.
Dry-cooling systems use air instead of water to cool the steam exiting a turbine. Dry-cooled systems use no water and can decrease total power plant water consumption by more than 90 percent.[2] The tradeoffs to these water savings are higher costs and lower efficiencies. In power plants, lower efficiencies mean more fuel is needed per unit of electricity, which can in turn lead to higher air pollution and environmental impacts from mining, processing, and transporting the fuel. In 2000, most U.S. dry-cooling installations were in smaller power plants, most commonly in natural gas combined-cycle power plants.[3]
About 43 percent of thermoelectric generators in the United States use once-through cooling, 56 percent recirculating, and 1 percent dry-cooling (2008 data). In 2008, some 30 percent of electricity generation involved once-through cooling, 45 percent recirculating cooling, and 2 percent dry-cooling. (In some cases, those same power plants also produced electricity using non-steam systems, such as combustion turbines.)[4]
And just a few miles from the nuclear arsenal at the air base.
http://www.offutt.af.mil/
Offutt Air Force Base is the home of the 55th Wing and more than 50 partner units including the U.S. Strategic Command and the Air Force Weather Agency. Located in Bellevue, Neb., Offutt's diverse missions and global responsibilities put it on the cutting edge of the Air Force's transformation. Each branch of the U.S. military is represented among the approximately 10,000 military and federal employees assigned here.
Hate the damn thing. 
