March 18 the Japanese government raised its rating of the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to Level 5 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). It has now raised it to a Level 7 event because the problems at the plant have resulted in the release of a massive amount of radioactive substances which are a risk to human health and the environment over a wide area.
To put this is context this is a list of the level 5 and above events to date.
Level 7
Chernobyl, 1986 — Widespread health and environmental effects. External release of a significant fraction of reactor core inventory.
Level 6
Kyshtym, Russia, 1957 — Significant release of radioactive material to the environment from explosion of a high activity waste tank.
Level 5
Windscale Pile, UK, 1957 — Release of radioactive material to the environment following a fire in a reactorcore.
Three Mile Island, USA, 1979 — Severe damage to the reactor core.
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