I am planning to purchase a farm (I would be moving to the country even if I had never heard of Y2K- You can take the gal out of the farm, but not the farm out of the gal.....).

I would rather not be downwind or downstream of a Nuke (papermill, paint factory etc...). Do any of you know about a website that shows a map of current Nuke locations?

thanks, C.

-- Carolyn Hoagland (choagland@connectec.com), September 18, 1998

Answers

Carolyn,

There is a (small) map of nuclear power plants in the U.S. at http://www.nrc.gov/AEOD/pib/disclaimer.html;

A listing with more info at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/REACTOR/GEOSPATIAL/lvsites.html, and also at http://nuke.handheld.com/Plants/Operating/location.html.

-- John Howard, Greenville, NC (pcdir@prodigy.net), September 18, 1998.

also a listing at http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/NUREGS/SR1350/V9/part12.html (this might be the most complete/official one)

-- John Howard (pcdir@prodigy.net), September 18, 1998.

and of course I forgot to say that the map (first link, above) is clickable; click on a particular nuke site, and you'll go to an info page about that particular plant

-- (pcdir@prodigy.net), September 18, 1998.

By the way, coal plants emit more radiation than nukes: it comes from release of previously buried radiactive solids in the coal, released by burning the coal, then emitting the particles with the combustion air discharge up the stack..

Stack cleaners (SO2 scrubbers, etc.) seem to help a little, but these tend to then trap the radioactive effluent (but don't test for radiactivity, unlike nukes) in the solids residue (ash and filter discharge) and dump it on the ground.

Oil, paint and chemical odors? In Texas they call it the smell of money!

Seriously, get your property where you feel most comfortable and safe. Nobidy but you can decide that level of safety. I'd recommend looking first for a place with a large stockpond or existing dam, so you can get water and possible hydraulic power to run a generator. Trees, duck pond, fishing, a barn,, you know, the regular amenities.

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 18, 1998.

Gee-rusalem Rob! who woulda thunk. And I wonder how many coal plant operators try to make an end run around the stack scrubber regulations.

About 50 miles from here on the Pamlico River is the single largest phosphate deposit yet discovered on the planet (there's more phosphate total in Texas, but this is the largest single site). My family used to own a river house upriver from the place. In the course of mining, they dug up the dirt roads we used in about 1974, so we had to drive right through the main gate & thru the plant for years. Saw it up a lot closer than I wanted to, believe me.

It was found out back in the 80's (woops! *** 1980's ***) that the scrubbers in the exhaust stacks at the sulfuric and phosphoric acid plants had been "accidentally" removed, and left that way for several years; it was discovered that removal of the scubbers just happened to result in increased production. How surprising that this could possibly occur. A state fine of $5 million was reduced to $50,000 by some kindly judge in some court. Does that kind of stuff go on with coal-burning power plants also?

-- John Howard, Greenville, NC (pcdir@prodigy.net), September 18, 1998.

Yes John, it sure does. Curious how the precipitator equipment seems to get turned off at night, isn't it? BTW, no kidding, when I worked in the coal mines I could come home on Friday and set off a smoke alarm where I lived by breathing on it. By Sunday morning enough radon had left my system that I couldn't do that till the next Wednesday or so. No fooling, if you like I'll get my wife to verify that she saw me do it.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), September 19, 1998.

Carolyn- Here is the DEFINITIVE Web Address for your question... www.insc.anl.gov/index.html

It is sponsored by the Dept of Energy, and lists a map of all powerplants, which are online, which are off, any and all info regarding where they are in the US and Abroad.

I have not looked at the other mentioned web sites, but since this one is sponsored by the DOE, I would have to bet that it is More Accurate.

Hope this helps, Paul

-- Paul (prupp1@aol.com), September 23, 1998.