UCS develops new web-tool for nuclear power plant safety information

The tool features a map of the continental United States with color-coded cooling tower icons showing the location of nuclear power reactors. The default map shows the location of all operating, permanently closed, and proposed nuclear reactors. As the cursor moves across the map face, the names of the states and the individual nuclear plants will pop up.

Two screens and up to 10 safety issues (with only 5 safety issues currently in use) allow the user to re-populate the map with only those reactors meeting specified criteria. For example, the user can have the map show the locations of only the operating boiling water reactors or only the reactors currently receiving heightened NRC attention.

Clicking any where on the map will zoom into a regional map. Clicking on an individual reactor on the map or from the reactor list appearing at the bottom of the map, will call up more detailed info about that reactor, such as the owner's name, the population within 10 miles, and any UCS documents issued about the reactor and its problems.

The map currently has the capability to track up to 10 safety issues. We are currently using only 5. If you have any suggestions on additional safety issues that should be monitored and reported, please let me know. Some have already suggested we flag reactors that have had security problems. It's a great suggestion, but we are currently unable to find consistent information about those reactors due to the NRC's security blackout. We are concerned that a map with reactor security issues might not highlight a reactor with serious security problems because that information is not publicly available.

UCS intends for this version of Nuclear Power Information Tracker to be Phase 1. Phase 2 will expand on its features to include other things. For example, we are gathering wind roses (e.g., plots showing how often the wind blows in various compass directions during the year) for the reactors to see if the map can show who is likely to be in harm's way should an accident occur. If you have ideas or suggestions on features we should add in Phase 2 (or Phase 1 features that we should eliminate or modify in Phase 2), please let me know.