environment-blog | Andy Roberts

Nuclear power stations and reactors operational around the world: listed and mapped

The degenerating situation at Fukishima is causing questions to be asked about nuclear safety around the world. How many nuclear reactors are operational around the world today – and where are they?

This article titled “Nuclear power stations and reactors operational around the world: listed and mapped” was written by Simon Rogers, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 18th March 2011 13.30 UTC The crisis at in reactors Japan’s Fukishima nuclear power station has focused attention on the world’s nuclear power industry. But how big is it exactly? This database, from the World Nuclear Association gives us some idea. We’ve scraped a list of every operational nuclear reactor around the world – and its location, power rating and operating company. The list gives a unique picture of the state of the world in nuclear power. Monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the industry in Japan has been criticised for being less than forthcoming over what’s happening inside Fukushima. And Japan is certainly a major nuclear power – with a high proportion of boiling water reactors, such as the kind that are overheating at Fukushima today. Here’s how the data looks on a map:

But how old are they? Over 60 of the world’s operating reactors were opened before 1975, the vast majority in the US.

The full data is below. What can you do with it? Data summary

Download the data • DATA: download the full spreadsheet More data Data journalism and data visualisations from the Guardian World government data • Search the world’s government data with our gateway Development and aid data • Search the world’s global development data with our gateway Can you do something with this data? • Flickr Please post your visualisations and mash-ups on our Flickr group • Contact us at data@guardian.co.uk • Get the A-Z of data • More at the Datastore directory • Follow us on Twitter • Like us on Facebook

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March 18 2011, 8:41am | Comments »

What the frack? US natural gas drilling method contaminates water

Fracking may also be responsible for setting off earthquakes.

This article titled “What the frack? US natural gas drilling method contaminates water” was written by Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, for guardian.co.uk on Sunday 27th February 2011 15.30 UTC A controversial new method of natural-gas drilling, embraced rapidly across the US, has contaminated water supplies with radioactive waste. An investigation by the New York Times said internal documents from the Environmental Protection Agency and state regulators showed that the dangers to the public from the drilling method – hydraulic fracturing – were greater than previously understood. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, uses huge volumes of water, chemicals and sand injected into rock at high pressure to release natural gas. Its development has unleashed a natural gas boom in the US and around the world. But the NYT said the waste water contained dangerously high levels of radioactivity. It was being sent to treatment plants that were not designed to deal with or being discharged into rivers that supply drinking water. The NYT said its main findings included: • More than 1.3bn gallons of waste water was produced by Pennsylvania wells over the past three years, far more than has been previously disclosed. Most of this water — enough to cover Manhattan in three inches — was sent to treatment plants not equipped to remove many of the toxic materials in drilling waste. • At least 12 sewage treatment plants in three states accepted gas industry waste water and discharged waste that was only partly treated into rivers, lakes and streams. • Of more than 179 wells producing waste water with high levels of radiation, at least 116 reported levels of radium or other radioactive materials 100 times as high as the levels set by federal drinking-water standards. At least 15 wells produced waste water carrying more than 1,000 times the amount of radioactive elements considered acceptable. The investigation comes amid growing concern about the potential dangers of natural gas drilling as it spreads from western states to highly populated north-east. The investigative website, ProPublica, has published an extensive series on the threats to water supply from hydraulic fracturing. ProPublica has also raised doubts about whether natural gas can indeed offer a solution to climate change – noting that the mining process is extremely energy and water intensive. The dangers of natural gas drilling was also the subject of a gritty documentary, Gasland, which was nominated for an Academy Award. The film’s director , Josh Fox, told The Guardian: “All these things are starting to add up in a very clear picture of a massive failure to protect public health.”

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February 27 2011, 9:48am | Comments »

Andy Roberts

Nuclear power stations and reactors operational around the world: listed and mapped

What the frack? US natural gas drilling method contaminates water

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