Level 6

The accident at Japan's nuclear reactors officially just got worse.

Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, crippled by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, has discharged more radiation than the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the United States, according to calculations by the central government.

It has already reached a level 6 serious accident on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).

Separately, calculations made by experts place the level of soil contamination in some locations at levels comparable to those found after the Chernobyl accident in 1986.

With the Fukushima plant continuing to release radiation, there is the danger that the contaminated land will be unusable for many years.

Such a short report. So much information.

Comparable to Chernobyl in spots? Well that is the good news. Why good? Because the radiation is only really bad in spots. Bad news would be "Comparable to Chernobyl over a wide area." Well not to worry. The accident is not over.

And contaminated land unusable for years (they probably mean decades)? Well at least no one has died from the radiation. So far. But as I keep saying:

Coal plants may be more dangerous on a day to day basis but when they go tits up you don't have to evacuate everyone who lives within 50 miles of the plant.

Tyler Durden has some thoughts on the latest development.

Only Chernobyl is a Level 7 event. We believe Fukushima should get there within 2 weeks as ever more of the current devastation becomes public. Of course, all of this is a paper-pushing formality. What isn't, are people who may be developing serious diseases as the government continues to misrepresent the severity of the situation.

Is an evacuation of Tokyo possible? I would currently put that action at the outer limit of possible dangers. If it does happen I'd have to say the accident is worse than I thought. And I thought it was pretty bad.

Cross Posted at Classical Values