Japan's Nuclear Threat Level Matches Chernobyl

In raising the threat level from a five to a seven, the Japanese government admits 'widespread health and environmental effects' are likely.

Japan has raised the severity level of the nuclear crisis caused by last month's earthquake and tsunami to the same level as the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The increase on the International Nuclear Event Scale, from five to seven, signifies an admission from the Japanese government that radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are a "major disaster" that could cause “widespread health and environmental effects” and the “external release of a significant fraction of the reactor core inventory.” So far, the plant has released about a tenth of the amount of radioactive material as the Chernobyl meltdown, but Japanese officials, in expanding the evacuation zone around the plant, warned that the struggle to stop the leak could continue for some time.