Japan raises severity rating of nuclear accident
Posted March 18, 2011 8:39 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Japan’s nuclear safety agency has raised the severity rating of the nuclear accident at the damaged Fukushima plant from four to five on a seven-level international scale.
The scale defines a level four incident as having local consequences and a level five incident as having a wider impact.
According to the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency website, this level is equivalent to the 1979 incident at Three Mile Island in the United States.
The rating increase comes after the comments from head of the UN’s nuclear agency saying Japan is “racing against the clock” at the crippled power plant.
Meanwhile, Soliders and fire fighters continue to dump water on the over-heating reactors with a lot of focus on Unit No. 3.
Authorities continue to try to reconnect the power supply to restart cooling systems and officials say power cables should be fully installed in the next few days. An emergency generator has reportedly been connected to units 5 and 6 and should allow them to pump water more effectively.
Reuters reported Japanese engineers are weighing the need to bury the Fukushima plant, saying it may be the only way to prevent a catastrophic radiation leak. The same method was used at Chernobyl.
Almost 17,000 people are believed to be dead or missing a full week after the earthquake and tsunami hit the region on March 11.
Conditions at the emergency sheleters are poor, with most without power and heat. Reports say there are a lot of challenges at the shelters because a number of people being transferred there are elderly.
The United States is now sending an elite military plan to Japan called the Constant Phoenix. They say the plane can fly through radio activity and monitor radiation clouds on the spot.
