The nuclear plant disaster in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami has many americans asking: "Could that happen here?"
The answer, according to information provided to msnbc.com by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is that it isn't likely. And if it were to happen, it might not be where you'd expect.
A list of all the nuclear reactors in the United States in order of the amount of risk from earthquakes shows that the most dangerous nuclear plant is a mere 24 miles away from New York City. Not along the Pacific Coast, but along the Hudson River.
A California plant does not show up on the list until #15, Diablo Canyon. Reactors with risk higher than those in California can be found in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, and South Carolina.
The reactor showing the least amount of earthquake risk is the nuclear plant in Callaway County.
msnbc.com gives the odds of an earthquake causing catastrophic failure at all of the plants. The average chance is 1 in 74,176. The highest risk, the Diablo Canyon plant in New York, has a 1 in 10,000 chance. Callaway County's reactor has been given the odds of 1 in 500,000.
For reference, the odds of winning $10,000 in the Powerball multistate lottery are 1 in 723,145.
To see the complete article, including a breakdown of how the NRC calculated the risk, click here.
Does this information make you feel safer about the possibilities of a nucear catastrophe in mid-Missouri or is the risk still too high? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.