The US alone has nearly 16 million people within this range, followed by more than nine million each in China, Germany and Pakistan, and five to six million in India, Taiwan and France.

When the radius is expanded to 75km, the number of people potentially at risk in case of a nuclear accident jumps to nearly half a billion, the analysis published by Nature shows.

More than 110 million are in the US, with 73 million in China, 57 million in India, 39 and 33 million in Germany and Japan, respectively.

Looked at another way, more than a third of Americans live within 75km of a nuclear power plant, and nearly half of all Germans.

Population concentration near a reactor is not a measure of danger, which depends on numerous factors including earthquake risk, quality of maintenance, regulatory oversight and the amount of radioactive material on site.

AFP