# How close is your nearest nuke power plant? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 18, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098 "2011-03-18T01:21:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/21 "2011-03-18T03:40:34Z")
i’m about 170 km from the Darlington power plant east of Oshawa, Ontario. i grew up in Whitby, which is between Darlington and the other nuclear power plant at Pickering. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/22 "2011-03-18T03:53:50Z")
The only remaining commercial nuclear power station in the PNW is in Richland, WA, 335 miles away. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/23 "2011-03-18T03:55:37Z")
There’s one 18 miles north of me and one 10 miles to the south. That must be why they send us a calendar with emergency info every year. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/24 "2011-03-18T03:58:11Z")
I’m 170 km (driving) from the [Gentilly II nuclear power station](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentilly_Nuclear_Generating_Station), Quebec’s only nuclear power plant. (It’s outside Bécancour, across the St. Lawrence from Trois-Rivières about halfway between here and Quebec City.) However, there’s a nuclear reactor just a few km away at the University of Montreal’s Ecole Polytechnique. ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/25 "2011-03-18T04:01:32Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > i’m about 170 km from the Darlington power plant east of Oshawa, Ontario. i grew up in Whitby, which is between Darlington and the other nuclear power plant at Pickering. I got to stand right beside the reactor core at Darlington, which was the best high school chemistry field trip ever. Er, before it was fueled, obviously:) My girlfriend lives in Whitby, and I’m pretty likely to end up moving there soon. Howdy, neighbour… ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/26 "2011-03-18T04:03:33Z")
About 10-12 miles from the Beaver Valley plant and I was about a mile from the one Susquehanna plant when it opened. I’ve never really thought of them as a risk; or at least not the kind of risk I need to lose sleep over. In the greater scheme of my life many other things rate far higher in terms of why my eyes get bloodshot. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/27 "2011-03-18T04:03:59Z")
Quoth Wikipedia: “Ontario has 16 operating reactors providing about 50% of the province’s electricity, plus two reactors undergoing refurbishment. Quebec and New Brunswick each have one reactor.” ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/28 "2011-03-18T04:09:29Z")
60 miles from Oyster Creek which is, unfortunately, the oldest power plant in the country. ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/29 "2011-03-18T04:16:30Z")
I’m about 50 miles from Comanche Peak, home of 2 nuclear reactors. No earthquakes here in North Texas, thankfully. I believe there is another 2 located in South Texas somewhere, but that’s about it for Texas. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/30 "2011-03-18T04:27:46Z")
Well, there are several of us around here who have spent months or years living within a few hundred _yards_ of the nearest nuke power plant :eek: I say that only half in jest, since on a ship at sea there is nowhere to run. These days I’m 36 miles from Oyster Creek in NJ. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/31 "2011-03-18T04:33:40Z")
Two miles, by road, from the Limerick Generating Station. Less than that as the crow flies. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/32 "2011-03-18T05:21:57Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > About 60 miles downwind of the [largest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palo_Verde_Nuclear_Generating_Station) Nuke plant in the country. > :eek: I knew the job was dangerous when I took it, no not that, the current school job I have takes me closer to the nuclear plant, and still it is more likely that I would be hurt by one of the gangs in the neighborhood than by the nuclear plant. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/33 "2011-03-18T05:49:16Z")
I’m about 230 miles from Diablo Canyon, the nearest active power plant; Rancho Seco, which was decommissioned in 1989, is about 100 miles away or so. The TRIGA research reactor in Etcheverry Hall at UC Berkeley was about 20 mles away, but that was shut down in 1987. GE’s Vallecitos Nuclear Center in Sunol, about 30 miles away, still runs a 100kW research reactor. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/34 "2011-03-18T09:51:38Z")
I am 60 miles downwind of the Perry plant in Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/35 "2011-03-18T10:08:14Z")
Looks like I’m about 60 miles away from Pickering, and can’t find one closer in Ontario. The closest nuclear reactor is only 9 miles from me, but that’s the research reactor on the university campus, not a power plant. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/36 "2011-03-18T12:01:49Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > There aren’t any in Australia, but I’m about 35km from the sole nuclear reactor. I’m surprised by that. What has been Australia’s rationale for not going the nuclear route. At first glance it would seem an ideal place for it. Remote, seaside locations, concentrated populations, access to uranium, exotic animals to mutate…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/37 "2011-03-18T12:05:40Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > There aren’t any in Australia, but I’m about 35km from the sole nuclear reactor. I thought Lucas Heights had been decommissioned? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/38 "2011-03-18T12:17:23Z")
I’m about 12 miles from the [Calvert Cliffs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvert_Cliffs_Nuclear_Power_Plant) plant. Generally upwind, too. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/39 "2011-03-18T12:38:00Z")
I’m in between 2 of them. The closer one (Darlington), if I’m measuring on the map correctly, is ~8 miles, the further one (Pickering), closer to 15. ---
**Author:** ![Moonlitherial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@Moonlitherial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonlitherial)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/40 "2011-03-18T12:54:33Z")
I used to be about 8km away from Pickering but I moved a few years ago to the other side of Toronto so now about 65km. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098.md?page=3)