If you think what’s happening in Japan can’t happen here, think again. The map below shows the reality of what’s at stake:

Actually, what’s at stake is even more troubling, considering that the Quabbin reservoir sits just about 30 miles south of Vermont Yankee, which is known to have been leaking Tritium into the Connecticut River.  

Ed. note: our hearts are with the people of Japan who are experiencing — again — the brutal downsides of human ingenuity, on top of the combined nightmare of two natural disasters. For a good live feed of news from NHK World TV, click here. For good information on the ongoing nuclear issues in Japan from the Union of Concerned Scientists, click here.

By Chris Burrell, The Patriot Ledger

Read the original article here

PLYMOUTH – The Pilgrim nuclear power plant runs the second-highest risk of catastrophic earthquake damage of all the nuclear plants in the country, according to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission study.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth (photo credit: Entergy Corp.)

The agency estimates the risk of an earthquake damaging the core of Pilgrim’s reactor over the course of a year at 1 in 14,493, a significantly higher risk assessment than its previous estimate of 1 in 125,000.

The federal agency considered both earthquake probability and the stalwartness of a nuclear plant’s design in tallying those odds.