Thursday, April 07, 2011

Mapping Nuclear Plants & Earthquake Data

The World's Nuclear Power Reactors

This German Google Map shows the locations of the world's nuclear power plants. It also shows the locations of all the power plants currently under construction, those that are suspended and those that have been shut down.

The map shows that Japan currently has plans to build another nuclear plant on its east coast at Ōma. I wonder if it will ever be completed.

The map also contains two layers that let you view world earthquake data (with a magnitude of 5 or greater) for the last twenty years.

Nuclear Power Plants and Earthquakes Map

I've always wondered about the advisability of building nuclear power plants on top of fault lines. This Google Map shows global earthquake activity since 1973 and the locations of nuclear power plants around the world.

The map displays a heat map of 75,000 4.5+ magnitude earthquakes since 1973 based on data from the United States Geological Survey. I'm no expert but the map does make me question even more the advisability of building nuclear power stations in places such as Japan and California.

________________

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The tiling server behind that first site seems to have a problem with the date line. Any cells that would cross it come out blank. This covers most of NZ which is a pity because if it was there it would show a high level of tectonic activity and no nuclear plants.

Anonymous said...

I like turtles