# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/61 "2011-03-18T18:26:45Z")
I am 1 mile from a reactor in Charlottesville, VA. It’s kind of funny- I saw some protesters (Very environmentally concerned citizens in C-ville, dont’cha know) this week who were having a tantrum about nukes in the US, and one of the speakers said how great it was that we don’t have to worry about a nuclear incident here! Thunderous applause. They were less than 200 yards from the reactor on the campus of UVa. Not too mention only 25-30 miles away is the Lake Anna reactor. That’s why I always stop and listen to demonstrators- The comedy is GOLD. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/62 "2011-03-18T18:34:57Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I don’t believe any of the reactors are online at this point - more of a waste processing place, isn’t it? > > However, there is indeed a perfectly good fault line under my feet up here in Columbia, maybe 70 miles or so away? The Charleston earthquake will probably happen again at some time and Charleston will be hella fucked, what with all the fill and the bridges and such. The power plant across the river is technically not considered to be part of the Savannah River Site. Both of its reactors are operating, and they’ve broken ground on two more. It’s called the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. You are correct that all of the SRS reactors are out of commission. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/63 "2011-03-18T18:50:27Z")
Yet another one in SC - the Oconee power station is about 20 miles off from me, beside Lake Keowee. If you want to Google it, it’s about 8 miles north-north-west from Clemson. It’s only about 10 miles from where I work, and we get evacuation notices there, as well as being close enough to have heard the siren test ONCE on a cloudless freaky-still quiet summer evening. Not really worried about it, the upstate is pretty fault-free, however we are a pretty nasty tornado area. I would hope that it would be built to withstand a twister… that’s a nasty thought - radioactive tornadoes. Ick. How does one discover prevailing wind directions? ---
**Author:** ![CWN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@CWN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CWN)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/64 "2011-03-18T19:08:45Z")
24 miles to Indian [Point Power plant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Point_Energy_Center)in Buchanan NY ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/65 "2011-03-18T19:25:45Z")
About thirty miles from [Ginna](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginna_Nuclear_Generating_Station). ---
**Author:** ![Baffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@Baffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baffle)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/66 "2011-03-18T19:34:12Z")
A hundred kilometers from Pickering, but just fifty from the research reactor at McMaster. But I’d let them build one in my basement. ---
**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, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/67 "2011-03-18T20:43:25Z")
[QUOTE=Bijou Drains] In some areas near my house I can see the big white cloud that is produced from the cooling tower. [/QUOTE] Same here. You can almost use it as a thermometer in the summer to estimate how many air conditioners are cranking away. ---
**Author:** ![wonder\_lust](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecccb3/32.png) [@wonder\_lust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonder_lust)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/68 "2011-03-18T20:54:24Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > About 10-12 miles from the Beaver Valley plant Me too. I’m not the least bit worried about it, despite a thing I read this morning about its not being up to snuff in the event of an earthquake. (Not sure if I buy that anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/69 "2011-03-18T20:57:04Z")
Somewhere around 20 miles from [Braidwood](http://www.exeloncorp.com/powerplants/braidwood/Pages/profile.aspx) as the crow flies. Which didn’t worry until I just Googled for the plant name and link and this was the top hit on Google via the Christian Science Monitor: > [@](#): > > Similarly, at the Braidwood nuclear plant in Illinois on Aug. 16, both reactors shut down, the report said. First, an electrical problem caused an automatic shut-down in one reactor. Then, a poorly designed safety system dumped water onto the floor of the turbine building – which then rained down to lower floors, shorting out other electrical equipment and causing the other reactor to automatically shut down. “Previous events had also dumped lots of water onto the floor,” Dr. Lochbaum noted, but “management did not fix the design glitch. They only sent workers out to mop up the puddles.” It sounds like the God damned _Simpsons_ over there… ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/70 "2011-03-18T21:03:08Z")
My nearest active plants are the Millstones, 43 miles east of here. Here is a [handy interactive map](http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/nuclear_power_plants_locations/index.html) that will list the plants nearest you, at least if you live in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/71 "2011-03-18T21:20:39Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > My nearest active plants are the Millstones, 43 miles east of here. > > Here is a [handy interactive map](http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/nuclear_power_plants_locations/index.html) that will list the plants nearest you, at least if you live in the U.S. Cool! My closest active nuke plants are both 500 miles away. One on the far east side of Nebraska, and the other on the far east side of Kansas. Zoom out the map and check out where most of the nuke plants are. It’s interesting how dense the east coast is with them. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/72 "2011-03-18T21:32:18Z")
Straight line distance is between 10-15 miles from Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. I got to tour the plant a few years ago - it’s a fascinating place. ---
**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, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/73 "2011-03-18T21:38:36Z")
> [@Kyrie\_Eleison](#): > > My nearest active plants are the Millstones, 43 miles east of here. > > Here is a [handy interactive map](http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/nuclear_power_plants_locations/index.html) that will list the plants nearest you, at least if you live in the U.S. You’d think they would have had the ones in Ontario at least. Winds know no borders. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/74 "2011-03-18T21:47:02Z")
34 miles from the Perry plant in North Perry, Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/75 "2011-03-18T22:51:50Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > Not really worried about it, the upstate is pretty fault-free, however we are a pretty nasty tornado area. I would hope that it would be built to withstand a twister… that’s a nasty thought - radioactive tornadoes. Ick. The Sci Fi channel made a movie about that. Atomic Tornado I believe it was called. Quite good if I say so myself. ---
**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 19, 2011, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/76 "2011-03-19T05:30:15Z")
> [@Spit](#): > > I am 1 mile from a reactor in Charlottesville, VA. > > It’s kind of funny- I saw some protesters (Very environmentally concerned citizens in C-ville, dont’cha know) this week who were having a tantrum about nukes in the US, and one of the speakers said how great it was that we don’t have to worry about a nuclear incident here! Thunderous applause. > > They were less than 200 yards from the reactor on the campus of UVa. Not too mention only 25-30 miles away is the Lake Anna reactor. > > That’s why I always stop and listen to demonstrators- The comedy is GOLD. The swimming pool reactor? That blue is beautiful, isn’t it? (I knew someone who knew someone, so I got to go in and look at it. Hands carefully behind my back to control the urge to touch the blickenlitz.) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/77 "2011-03-19T18:03:36Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > 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. Exactly the same. I did not know the Poly had a SLOWPOKE. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098/78 "2011-03-19T20:19:58Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > 5 miles from the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. I am in Delaware and it’s across the Delaware River in Salem County, NJ. My neighborhood has sirens and signs as part of the emergency planning, etc. UPDATE: potassium iodide is being distributed by my local fire department this weekend in response to an onslaught of calls from people seeking the pills in the area. They are free to residents within 10 miles of the power plant. There is no radiation leak or other problem, but the nuke issues in Japan are drawing attention to the pills, which protect the thyroid from radiation. Local pharmacies are scrambling to get the pills, which they don’t normally carry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-close-is-your-nearest-nuke-power-plant/575098.md?page=3)