How close is your home to a nuclear power plant?

[vontar]

Ok, thanks to the events in Japan CNN has put this tool on their website. I just heard about it over the local radio station. I figured it would be a prefect fit for this forum. This map should be considered in any long term survival evac plans.

How close is your home to a nuclear plant?

[Caster]

Yikes, I'm only 88 miles. I didn't even know there was one in Alabama. You know what though, there's no "Safe Place" on the planet. There's a threat of some kind EVERYWHERE.

[enfield]

8 miles, but I don't consider the plant a threat. I'm thankful for it.

I have 6 reactors within 111 miles of me, hoping for more. Watts Bar has a second unit under construction and there's a rumor that Bellefonte in Alabama will be restarted, if public and political hysteria doesn't stop it.

Edited March 23, 2011 by enfield

[gsbell]

Interesting that less than 100 miles away is the same crappy design as the Japanese plants.

[vontar]

Interesting that less than 100 miles away is the same crappy design as the Japanese plants.

Well, we probably designed the japanese plant, notice they had the same washed out green paint we use.

[gsbell]

It is a US design, still crappy. The designs and standards have evolved so much it is just stupid that we have not kept pace with building modern, safe plants while retiring these older plants.

[leroy]

.....Interesting that less than 100 miles away is the same crappy design as the Japanese plants. ....

Pardon my French but that "crappy design" has been making power since 1971 (...at substantially more than the original design capacity...). It is a GE design Boiling Water Reactor system. It has kept up with design and construction updates; i (...and many others...) helped update them. All nuclear plants are continually updated and refubrished as technology improved and is codified into regulations.

Remember this; the Japanese plants withstood more than the design maximum for earthquake resistance by a factor of ten (...designed for a magnitude 8 quake, got a magnitude 9 --- earthquake scale is logrithmetic; each number up brings it up by a factor of 10. The tsunami wave was figured at over 10 meters high, the plant designed seawall(s) for about 7 (...i think..-- it's somewhere in the updates on the other thread on this subject...). These on-line units shut down just as they should.

The tsunami wave knocked all the external power out and destroyed the incomming transmission lines. The plants ran normally on battery power for about 8 or so hours, then the batteries went dead. These plants have survived what many "experts" said was unsurvivable -- a complete "station blackout" and loss of external power. The problems that these plants are having are directly attributable to that loss of power. It took 9 days to restore power and re-power the critical systems. During that 9 day period, there was a continual howl by various talking heads and experts saying the plants couldnt be saved and armageddon was near; while a bunch of brave souls used their heads and worked hard to save these units and their neighbors under the most unimaginable conditions. Now that the "experts", "talking heads", "opiners", and regulators have been proven wrong; i pretty much expect them to hush-- maybe they will apologize to the folks that saved these plants (...but i wouldn't hold my breath or bet the farm on it...).

Looks like two units may be damaged (...due to fuel problems in the reactors; but we dont know that yet...). The remaining 4 will probably be brought back on line. My guess is that all the other stuff (...spent fuel pools and all...) will be repaired. How's that for a "crappy" build?

More "food for thought": Three Mile Island was a PWR plant. Improved design similar to a Westinghouse unit. It even worked ok as far as contining dangerous stuff is concerned. It put Babcock-Wilcox out of the commercial nuclear business, but it still kept people from being hurt. By the way, it wont be restarted.

I'm kinda like Enfield mentioned in his post. I'm not too scared of nuclear power.

We've got 6 units of nuclear generating capacity between where i live and Decatur, AL.

Hope this gives a bit of a new perspective

leroy

[gsbell]

It is good to hear an inside perspective. So what should the life a nuclear plant be?

[Garufa]

Vontar, you live in Oak Ridge. It doesn't get any more radioactive than that.

[G27]

About 160 miles, though not concerned.

Seth's Blog: The triumph of coal marketing

[peejman]

The "chicken little" media is ridiculous. To supplement leroy's post...

[vontar]

Vontar, you live in Oak Ridge. It doesn't get any more radioactive than that.

Radiation is just like salt and pepper, after a while you don't notice it.

I figure when the big event happens I will be able to just move out and my body will be used to low levels. I am adapting.

[leroy]

...It is good to hear an inside perspective. So what should the life a nuclear plant be? ....

Design life of forty years (...i think...). It seems that i remember that the fossil plant design life was on the order of 35 years; but it is lots easier to rehab them.

leroy

By the way: crimsonaudio makes a most excellent point here:

Seth's Blog: The triumph of coal marketing

The coal and gas industry is winning the energy war (...for now, at least...).

Edited March 23, 2011 by leroy

[Guest bkelm18]

Yay more nuclear fear mongering. I don't live too far from Watts Bar and of course I live in Oak Ridge. And the design of the Fukushima Daiichi plant was/is far from crappy. Just because something fails when a 8-9 magnitude quake and a several meter wall of water hit it doesn't mean it's a bad design.

Edited March 23, 2011 by bkelm18

[G27]

Yay more nuclear fear mongering. I don't live too far from Watts Bar and of course I live in Oak Ridge. And the design of the Fukushima Daiichi plant was/is far from crappy. Just because something fails when a 8-9 magnitude quake and a several meter wall of water hit it doesn't mean it's a bad design.

Heck, how many folks have been exposed to lethal radiation doses in Japan even AFTER a 9.0 earthquake and a 10 meter tsunami?

So far the death toll is @ 0, last I saw.

Everything - EVERYTHING - that could possibly have gone wrong went wrong and they still probably avoided a deadly exposure.

Yah, crappy design indeed...

[Guest FTG-05]

Just under 22 miles directly east of three Mark I GE BWR reactors.

I'm not the least bit worried. Crappy design my ass.

Edited March 23, 2011 by FTG-05

[Oh Shoot]

TVA made statement today that all their reactors would have stood up to the conditions that happened in Japan, even better:

TVA says its plants are more robust than Japan

However, let's remember this quake did NOT happen AT the nuke plants. Forget about the tsunami, probably nothing could survive a slip fault 9; maybe it would get buried deeply enough to be safe or something, who knows.

- OS

[oldogy]

'Bout a fifteen minute drive if there is no traffic.

oldogy

[Guest Ae-35]

I live about 17mi. from NFS. They make fuel for the Navy's sub's and carriers. I don't know how much of a risk that plant poses compaired to a power plant. I do know that my father-in law worked there 27 yr. Now he has skin cancer, the DOD paid him a large lump sum and is pick'n up all his med. bills, ( they've done that for over 400 retired emp. ) Still ,I'm glad I'm up on this mtn. not down there in the valley with NFS !!

[safeandsecure]

Not that I'd want to be in Japan right now, but I have more concern with tornados/high wind, floods, and varmits (the two-legged kind) than I have over the nuclear thing. In the past 35 years, I've had trees twisted apart or uprooted on numerous occasions, been flooded once and helped others escape flood waters on multiple occasions. So far, only a couple of "varmit" problems ... and so far, no personal losses from fire, but I've seen plenty of trouble from that ...

Oh yeah. 86 miles for me. Don't think I'll get worry lines yet.

[Guest friesepferd]

*rolls eyes*

I'm not close enough to a nuclear power plant for my liking.

[strickj]

17 miles which is surprising. I thought it would have been further since it's a good hours drive from the house...if I don't catch any traffic

[Guest bkelm18]

17 miles which is surprising. I thought it would have been further since it's a good hours drive from the house...if I don't catch any traffic

It's the radiation. It warps space-time.

[Glenn]

57 miles and 6 within 93 miles. I bet I got a lot more radiation from recent cancer treatments than I will ever get from a nuke plant.

Glenn

[strickj]

It's the radiation. It warps space-time.

It also makes it burn when you pee.