The Fukushima nuclear crisis level has today been raised from a Level 5 to a Level 7, giving it the same crisis rating as Chernobyl in 1986. A new video of reactors 3 and 4 at the Fukushima nuclear plant has been released by the operators of the plant.
The new ranking of the Fukushima nuclear plant reflects the initial severity of the crisis, not the current situation as radiation levels now are decreasing.
Watch the new video of the damage at Fukushima.
Although, the Japanese nuclear accident has been given the same crisis level as Chernobyl, Fukushima has not released nearly as much nuclear waste into the environment as the Ukrainian reactor did.
Fukushima nuclear radiation reaches UK
Radiation leaking from Fukushima
The total amount of radioactive material released so far at Fukushima is equal to about 10 percent of that released in the Chernobyl accident, said Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of Japan’s nuclear regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Unlike Chernobyl, where the reactor exploded, the containment from he Fukushima plant over all remained intact, said Nishiyama
Meanwhile, an official from the Tokyo Electric Power Company, pointed out that Fukushima still was leaking.
“The radiation leak has not stopped completely and our concern is that it could eventually exceed Chernobyl.”
A new video of the Fukushima nuclear plant has been released by the operators of the plant, showing the damage at the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors.
The video was shot by a remote controlled mini helicopter.
A Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale, describes a nuclear accident which involves “widespread health and environmental effects” and the “external release of a significant fraction of the reactor core inventory.”
Chernobyl and Fukushima are the only two nuclear accidents to have been rated at ‘red alert’ at Level 7.
