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Japan to raise Fukushima nuclear accident level to worst

Other News Materials 12 April 2011 05:55 (UTC +04:00)
The Japanese government is to raise the accident level at a stricken nuclear power plant to 7, the worst on an international scale, from the current 5, dpa reported Tuesday.
Japan to raise Fukushima nuclear accident level to worst

The Japanese government is to raise the accident level at a stricken nuclear power plant to 7, the worst on an international scale, from the current 5, dpa reported Tuesday.

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station has been releasing massive amounts of radioactive substances, which are posing threats to human health and the environment over a wide area, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The agency gauged the level with the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).

The agency declared in mid-March that the Fukushima crisis was a level 5 incident, the same as the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in the United States.

Level 7 has only been applied previously to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

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