The nuclear crisis in Japan begs the question: could American nuclear power plants withstand a similar natural disaster?
According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, that depends.
According to the Baltimore Sun, NRC officials say all U.S. nuclear power plants are built to endure earthquakes and tsunamis. But when you look at facilities in the Washington, D.C., region, experts are putting natural disasters into perspective.
Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Nuclear Group operates the reactors at Calvert Cliffs in Lusby. Spokesman Mark Sullivan says the company's plants are designed to withstand any events indicated by the seismic history of the places where they're located.
More than 180,000 people have evacuated the area around Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, and up to 160 may have been exposed to radiation.
Critics of nuclear energy say the crisis in Japan may bring to an end the so-called "nuclear renaissance" in which nuclear energy has been touted as a safer, cleaner alternative to fossil fuels.
