Japan may raise the severity of its nuclear accident to seven — the top level on an international scale — from five, the Kyodo news agency reported Tuesday, as workers battled to contain the crisis.
Kyodo said preliminary figures from the country's Nuclear Safety Commission revealed the battered Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant had released up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour for several hours.
The calculation prompted Japan to consider upgrading the accident to the highest level — something that has only be given to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster — Kyodo said, citing unnamed government sources.
According to the INES, level 7 accidents release radioactive material of more than tens of thousands terabecquerels of radioactive iodine 131.
Haruki Madarame, chairman of the government-run commission, said it has estimated that the release of 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour continued for several hours, the report said.
Japan currently assesses the nuclear accident at level 5, or the same level as the Three Mile Island accident in the United States in 1979.
On Monday the disaster-stricken nation marked a month since the massive earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11.
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