Submission + - Japan Raises Nuke Plant crisis severity to "7" (japantoday.com)
darkonc writes: "Early Tuesday in Japan, the government decided to
raise the severity level of the accident to the maximum 7 on an international scale, up from the current 5 and matching that of the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. The government declared the level 7 emergency because it is now estimated that the crippled plant was emitting over 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactivity for a number of hours at the height of the nuclear incident.
Previously, on Monday, the government had expanded the evacuation zone around the plant to include at least 6 cities up to 60KM away from the plant. These cities, outside of the current 20-30KM evacuation area, are now expected to exceed the 20 millisieverts/year limit on residual radiation established by International Commission on Radiological Protection and the International Atomic Energy Agency in the case of an emergency."
Previously, on Monday, the government had expanded the evacuation zone around the plant to include at least 6 cities up to 60KM away from the plant. These cities, outside of the current 20-30KM evacuation area, are now expected to exceed the 20 millisieverts/year limit on residual radiation established by International Commission on Radiological Protection and the International Atomic Energy Agency in the case of an emergency."
