After what happened in Fukushima people will think twice about having homes near a nuclear power plants. By having this kind of maps there is a possibility this application will discourage people to live far away from a nuclear power plant in case there is a misfortunate circumstance ever happen. The bottom line is what is served as the visual information will help to prevent the worst thing expected by all parties. By considering that we need to consider other renewable energy alternatives a new nuclear power plant usually placed in a certain area based on many considerations. Safety is on the top priority. It is why the placement of the plants is crucial.

Considering having a nuclear power plant may bring people advantages. However, it will not be easy to answer who would be affected in case a particular nuclear power plant has problems. Thanks to Nature News and Columbia University which share their partnership to create a Google earth map that maps out the population around the plants. By using this application, the number of people that might be experience disadvantages from the plants’ issues can be scanned. The location, the size of nuclear power plants and the population numbers in the region of those plants are mapped out in a user-friendly way.

The population sizes are described using circle size and color. The two colors used in this earth map are green and red. The green colored circles signify a population of less than 500,000 people.  The red colored circles stand for populations which are more than 20 million people.

If you try to scroll your mouse to the United States nuclear plants, you can read the result on the effect of a particular plant could have in case it is in troubles. You can also check the result for what can a nuclear power plant able to do around the globe and its potential impacts to the surroundings. You can give yourselves a shot in finding out more about the location and population near the different nuclear power plants around the globe using Google Earth map.