Following the incidents at nuclear power plants in Japan after the earthquake I was wondering which power stations around the world are near active earthquake zones.
With this in mind, I’ve created a map combining two sets of information:
- A heatmap of every 4.5+ magnitude earthquake since to 1973 – around 174,000 in total
- The location of 248 atomic energy plants, including numbers of reactors. Represented by blue markers.
The seismic data are from the United States Geological Survey and the nuclear power station information the International Atomic Energy Agency. The map is built from two Google Fusion tables, here and here.
To see the actual locations of the earthquakes you can toggle the heatmap off and display markers instead.
Map of global earthquake activity and nuclear power plant locations.
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How do you create a heat map – I want to do something similar
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Excellent Map – amazing how the ring of fire is so dominant where earthquake activity is recorded. A pacific centralised map like I saw in National Geographic’s store in Regent Street London would make it even more visually powerful!
Please republish with a longer history of earthquake data. For example, this map is missing the quake potential of the New Madrid fault zone.
So it’s good to see that the vast majority of the world’s nuclear power plants are nowhere near earthquake zones. Also that mag 4.5 quakes would not trouble a nuke plant – only when you get real biggies is there any problem. After all, Japan has had many many quakes, and it’s only this one that has caused any problem. And that was down the the tsunami as much as anything.
I wonder where the best place to be is, in the event of major earth changes. Given the fact that the US is covered with Fukushima fallout, it seems hard to pick anywhere safe. The upper ranges of Mongolia?
This is exactly what I have been looking for- thank you for this info. However, I think that the actual fault lines themselves should be marked on, because if there was not a small quake there recently does not mean a large quake could occur.
Currently, we have so many nuclear power stations mainly built along coastal region for cooling purposes using sea-water. Our Mother Earth has been drastically changed by such damaging power generating processes. The sea-water is getting warmer and warmer for its use as the cheapest cooling agent and sea creatures are reducing in great numbers because the water is just too boiling for them. They are swimming deeper so as to be cooler and our fish supply is definitely diminishing and finally wipe out. The warm sea-water is also melting the iceberg at an alarming rate and water level is increasing. When most of the iceberg is finally melted, the only cooling agent for the sea-water is gone and our nuclear power stations can no longer function and humans suffer a suddenly power shortage and eventually power cut. The worst will follow when our hot Earth will have much higher temperatures around the globe and our agricultural process can no longer yield any food for us and we face immediately food shortage. Humans have pride ourselves as being the most intelligent species on Earth and the world leaders of these major countries that possess nuclear power stations are the cream of the pack. Why can’t they see the simple logic that we are digging ourselves the biggest grave on Earth that may wipe the whole population of humans in a matter of years.
There are many predictions about the end of the world and some veteran cultivators can also see humans suffering great famine and living in darkness during their meditations. Humans being busy with their daily pursuit of wealthy, luxury and fame amy overlook the road we are heading towards. Can someone just put together the pieces of information like a jigsaw puzzle and logically look at the condition of the Earth and the circumstances we have trapped ourselves in, ring the bells of your government in your country and hopefully humans can do a last minute U-turn and not land ourselves in a self-afflicted disaster that is beyond the salvation of God and humans.
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Excellent map…thank you for sharing this. How can I input a location’s address, zip code or GPS coordinates to identify its distance from the nearest nuclear reactors that may also be exposed to a fault? Your advise would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Nice informative map
Your map of current nuclear plants in the US is inaccurate.
You included plants that have been de-commissioned.
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ther shood have been just slower power and windPower an Water power !!!
ya some Grat minds who cam up weth Nucler power Relly Smart hu ???
thank about that !!! an thas Not Repet is Not a Joke !!!
an thas is so called the yr 2012 ???
Thank Man Thank ???
Thank you for your important map.
I am Japanese and I would like to stop nuclear power plant in Japan.
Nuclear plant in Japan are very dangerous.
Though the Japanese building designed against the earthquake , they can hardly be proof against earthquakes in case of built on an active fault.
An expert says that all the nuclear power generation in Japan, except the Genkai nuclear power plant, are suspected of an active fault existing below.
In the Fukushima accident, it is lucky that the early wind direction of the accident were to the Pacific and that reactors were able to cool off afterwards .
The Japanese government announced the diffusion simulation for refuge projects, but deportation from the country will be necessary in small Japan.
Then the uncontrolled nuclear reactors turn the tusk toward the world.
So nuclear power plant in Japan is not Japanese domestic energy problem but the problem that future of the world depended on.
Japan may destroy the effort that people of the world did and the hopeful future of the result.