Japan May Raise Level of Nuclear Accident to ‘Most Severe’

Kyodo News Agency reports Japan eyes raising the severity rating of the country’s nuclear crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant to “most severe”. That would be from Level 6 to Level 7 on a seven-level international scale, putting the accident on par with the Chernobyl accident in April 26, 1986, which killed dozens of people with radiation sickness and spewed radiation for hundreds of miles. The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale defines a Level 6 incident as having “significant release of radioactive material likely to require implementation of planned countermeasures” and a Level 7 incident as having “major release of radio­active ­material with widespread health and environmental effects.”