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The world’s nuclear reactors as you’ve never seen them…

The nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daichii power plant will have consequences for the future of nuclear power in Japan and elsewhere. To get a better idea of the world’s current tally of nuclear reactors, I’ve created a map of the world’s nuclear power plants and reactors using Google Earth – the maps are based on a database kindly supplied to me by staff at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Power Reactor Information System (PRIS) database, so it’s reliable, and up-to-date. The database, however, lacked latitude and longitude data — I obtained many of these by doing a database merge with the older UNEPGRID reactor database which contain data on reactors up to the year 2000, and then geocoded the remaining entries lacking coordinate data.

Caution: This embedded version may have limited functionality on some browsers. Download the map file for fully enabled viewing on desktop versions of Google Earth.

Google Earth, with its unparalleled pan and zoom functionality and the relative ease with which it can be interfaced with databases, is my preferred tool for mapping and visualizing geographical data. Here’s the link to my beta map – remember that to view the file you must first download Google Earth (I’ve also done these maps in my spare time, so please be forgiving of any rough edges)

Here’s a quick summary of what the map shows:

1. All the world’s nuclear power plants are depicted on the map as circles. Their names appear in yellow on browseover, with the size of the circle proportional to their total MW electricity output. I calculated the MW output by summing that of the plant’s operational reactors, plus that of those already under construction.

2. Where it gets more interesting is that if you zoom in and then click on a power plant, its circular symbol will open up to show each individual reactor at the plant, with the colour of the circle of each reactor depicting its design (for example, “boiling water reactor”). Then clicking on any reactor will bring up an information panel, giving the reactor’s basic technical details, and where available a photograph of the plant, as well as links to recent news stories about the plant.

<IMG SRC=“https://declanbutler.info/Fukushima/RINGHALS.jpg” width=700

A major advantage of Google Earth is that it is also easy to overlay other layers of data on top of this base map of nuclear power plants and reactors, so (time permitting) I could envisage, for example, adding such relevant geographical layers as datasets on population density, past significant earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as seismic risk. Let me know what sort of data you would like to see added as supplementary layers. But for now, I thought I’d just get the base map out the door.

I’d be keen to hear of anything interesting you come across as you explore the map – so do let me know using the Comments facility below.

For full coverage of the Fukushima disaster, go to Nature’s news special.

Comments

  1. Report this comment

    Brendan Maher said:

    This was a great idea, Declan. Other data to overlay? There are so many. Active/inactive faults? C02 generation per capita? Thyroid/other cancer rates?

    I can’t believe how few plants there are in the Western US!

  2. Report this comment

    Zeno Davatz said:

    Excellent! We need to get this data into a normal Google-Maps Application.

  3. Report this comment

    ronald van heese said:

    Population density in an area of let’s say 50 miles from the reactors could be added…

  4. Report this comment

    Brian Owens said:

    Would be interesting to add other big facilities that could cause problems if hit by a natural disaster. Chemical plants, biosafety labs, etc.

  5. Report this comment

    Brian K said:

    Totally agree with population density. Critical infrastructure (highways, cities, etc.) and groundwater source, reservoirs, and rivers that could be affected by meltdown/loss of containment would also be interesting.

  6. Report this comment

    John MacCuish said:

    Prevailing winds, or even daily or predicted wind as can be found on weather websites (e.g., intellicast).

  7. Report this comment

    Tom said:

    Would it be possible to create a world/local UK/US map that showed what 20/30/80km exclusion zones would look like around the nuclear plants?

    Hypothetical, but would be an interesting plot to see how affected other countries would be if they had to implement exclusion zones.

  8. Report this comment

    AndrewtheItalianBoss said:

    No nuclear plants in Italy! Great!

  9. Report this comment

    Mike Bellman said:

    I think adding “disaster” layers would be helpful with regards to ejected radiation. It’s possible that the layers are already created:

    prevailing/typical surface winds

    typical, or current jet stream

    ocean currents

  10. Report this comment

    Greg said:

    Your map is missing ShibuyaEggman! (Shame on you, IAEA…)

  11. Report this comment

    Lawn said:

    Cool idea. But I don’t see some research reactors here. I’d consider them relevant to your project (like those at DOE sites, colleges, etc).

    Grew up and had my first graphic design job on site with these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_National_Laboratory

    (Wikipedia says there’s been 50 reactors on this site alone, not sure how many are critical right now though).

    Keep up the good work.

    [DB responds: I deliberately didn’t include research reactors, as their mass of fuel assemblies is much smaller and so poses much less of a widespread threat than power reactors.

    You can get an up-to-date list of research reactors and their current operational status at the IAEA site here: https://nucleus.iaea.org/RRDB/RR/ReactorSearch.aspx?rf=1 ]

  12. Report this comment

    not a doktor said:

    Do you think you could find university plants?

  13. Report this comment

    Tim Hogan said:

    Great work. I would also be interested to see where spent fuel storage sites are located

  14. Report this comment

    terry sommers said:

    where is israel’s nuclear reactor?

    [DB response: this is a map of nuclear power plants: Israel does not have a nuclear power plant]

  15. Report this comment

    Chris Tregenza said:

    A great resource. I had no idea where the UK plants were.

    What I would be interested in seeing on the map would overlays for major nuclear accidents. e.g Three mile island released x amount of radiation over this area. And then being able to plot those on other plants.

    This would allow people to see what would happen if a Chernobyl / Three Mile Island / Fukushima happen to their local power station.

  16. Report this comment

    yamaplos said:

    too bad this is not visible on Ubuntu. If it were on Google Maps instead…

    [DB response: as a long time Ubuntu user, I share your frustration that the Google Earth plug-in does not yet work on Linux systems (https://www.google.com/earth/explore/products/plugin.html ). As mentioned in the blog post, however, the plug-in view embedded in the post was just a visual taster, and that readers should download the full map file itself for use with the Google Earth Desktop software (link to map file: https://declanbutler.info/Fukushima/Fukushima.kmz ). The Google Earth Desktop application is available for Ubuntu (https://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/ & https://www.google.com/earth/download/ge/agree.html ).

    As to Google Maps, Google Earth maps including this one often have functionality that is not available in Google Maps]

  17. Report this comment

    Jim Rodgers said:

    Add to pop-up on site: History of accidents: Dates, type of accident, radiation released, area contaminated;killed & injured; evacuation or sheltering ordered. I have that data from 1950 for most significant accidents.

    A layer for population density & seismic zones would be great

  18. Report this comment

    Andrew said:

    You missed the chalk river research reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, Canada. They produce a large percentage of North America’s medical isotopes.

    [DB responds: I deliberately didn’t include research reactors, as their mass of fuel assemblies is much smaller and so poses much less of a widespread threat than power reactors. This is a map of power plants and their reactors. Sorry if I didn’t make that clear enough in the blog post].

  19. Report this comment

    Kelvyn Jarvis said:

    it appears that a potential significant hazard was presented in Japan from spent fuel and thus the reactor need not be operating for it to be of interest and it is in that respect that I should like to draw attention to a plant in process of decommissioning but not shown on the map – at Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, Wales, approximately 40 miles due south of the one shown at Wylfa, Isle of Anglesey.

    Thank you for posting these maps 🙂

    [DB Response: The idea of showing decommissioned reactors is a fair point. Though I felt it including them in this map would have distorted the picture. The UK for example has 26 reactors in decommissioning, compared with just 19 operational reactors at 8 power plants; showing the UK as having 45 reactors on the map would have given a distorted picture. Maybe worth adding though as an optional layer that can be switched on or off by the user.]

  20. Report this comment

    xenu said:

    The data is incomplete. It doesn’t list the reactors in Australia

    [DB response: The map is of nuclear power stations, and Australia has none.]

  21. Report this comment

    Attu de Bubbalot said:

    There is no mention of the Humboldt Bay Nuclear Power Plant,a 63 MWe boiling water reactor owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company that operated from August 1963 to July 1976 just south of Eureka, California. Concern about previously undiscovered seismic faults combined with more stringent requirements required after the Three Mile Island Incident rendered the small plant unprofitable if restarted. It was shut down permanently in July 1976. It was then placed in SAFSTOR inactive status in 1988. Nuclear waste is still stored at the site which is located just above sea level in a designated Tsunami Hazard Zone.

    [DB response: Re shutdown and decommissioned reactors, see my reply to the Comment immediately above.this one]

  22. Report this comment

    Sam said:

    IF a nuclear reactor ‘blows’ or is damaged (Japan) all the world is affected, no matter where the reactor i.

    Accidents happen, period. There is no way in the world for all possible scenarios to be completely and safely and totally ‘covered’. Absolutely no way. Period.

    How can ANYONE think any nuclear reactor is ‘ok’??

  23. Report this comment

    Attu de Bubbalot said:

    It would be great to see a map of where each nation with nuclear power permanetley stores its nuclear waste. It is clear that the US currently has no such facility and it seems that Japan does not either (as so much waste seems to be stored on site and immediately adjacent to operating reactors). Where do France, England and other countries store their nuclear waste?

  24. Report this comment

    Philippe Danielski said:

    I was wondering how difficult it would be to overlay these sites with information on population density. I’d be interested in knowing, for instance, how many people live within 30km of a nuclear facility.

    You seem to be a Google Earth wizard, any ideas?

    [DB response: anyone can easily do it right away for themselves. The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) produces a global population density grid — https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/ . CIESIN used to offer their own Google Earth version, but the link seems broken — however several others have used the CIESIN data to create Google Earth layers eg this one https://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/download.php?Number=221440 . So if you have my nuclear reactors map open in Google Earth and then also download the file above as well, you will hey presto have an overlay.

    (the above GE file lacks a legend, but I assume it is the same as the scale here https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/maps/globaldens.pdf ).

    In passing, CIESIN also offers an online too that let’s you draw a polygon anywhere on its online map, after which it will calculate an estimate of the population in that defined area — https://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/gpw/wps.jsp I can’t remember the dates of these population density estimates, but they are quite recent]]

  25. Report this comment

    Brenda said:

    This was awlsome thank you and the bloggers were great a very interesting sight.Thank you one and all=-)

  26. Report this comment

    ravajack said:

    Great info!

    It would also be nice to see a similar map showing locations of all the CLOSED (for whatever reason) nuclear plants in the world like Lubmin in Germany and Barseback in Sweden, waiting for decades or even centurys for decontamination and deconstruction. Also TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima would of course be on that map. It’s no wild guess that the number of similar radioactive ”ruins” will grow rapidly around the world in a not too distant future…

    How will we be able to handle these abandoned nukes?

  27. Report this comment

    Mateo Sanín said:

    Excellent Job! Google Earth is a great way to present this information and regardless of recent events its great info to know.

    I have a couple of contributions I’d like to make

    Coordinates for Atucha I and Atucha II Reactors in Argentina

    Atucha I

    33°58’1.92"S 59°12’18.08"O

    Atucha II

    33°58’0.81"S 59°12’26.66"O

    Atucha III is supposed to be online later this year (2011) though it was scheduled for startup back 2008.

    Thanks again for the Resource

  28. Report this comment

    Kevin Blaker said:

    Many thanks for this map.

    I would be interested in seeing a layer representing all the university-based non-electricity generating research reactors around the world. These would be very small dots of course, but there would be many, many of them, and they are still producing spent fuel.

  29. Report this comment

    Bo Modin said:

    Hi,

    Do you have a detailed map of the Nuclear Power Plants & Research Centres in Iran?

    I would really appreciate if you could mail it to me + any info you might have from Iran.

    Thanks & Brgds

    Bo

    bo.modin@modica.ae

  30. Report this comment

    Ralph said:

    Declan, I find your work (above article, https://declanbutler.info/blog/?p=212 and https://declanbutler.info/blog/?p=201) impressive!

    I have done a small-scale analysis for Switzerland looking into population density around NPPs (https://visurus.wordpress.com/2011/05/12/gefahrdung-der-bevolkerung-der-schweiz-durch-kernkraftwerke-eine-analyse).

    For another project of mine I was wondering whether the raw data (NPP locations and characteristics) is somewhere available from you (I don’t have a PRIS account) in another format than KML, say CSV?

  31. Report this comment

    donny smeets said:

    there are way more nuclear power plants on the world than what you show here. i can give you almost the exavt numbers. France alone has 58 for example. They dont all show on your overlay. I want to make this overlay complete, cause i like to have it.

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