Severity rating raised for Japan’s nuclear crisis one week after quake and tsunami

The severity level of the situation at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan was raised on the one-week anniversary of the twin disasters that sparked the nuclear crisis.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency raised the severity rating Friday to five from four, on the seven-level International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). The update puts this crisis at the same level as the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979. Chernobyl was a level seven.

A level four has local consequences and a level five threat has a broader impact. France has been insisting for days the crisis should be ranked at level six.

Crews frantically continued efforts to douse the damaged plant with water Friday to stabilize temperatures as people across the Japan observed a moment of silence to mark the one-week anniversary of the catastrophic 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami.

The death toll rose to 7,197 Friday and is expected to mount. More than 10,905 people remain missing, half a million are living in shelters, nearly 350,000 have no electricity and one million people have no water.

The focus of the effort at the nuclear plant, 220 kilometres north of Tokyo, is split between cooling the reactors and ensuring there’s enough water in the adjacent cooling pools where spent fuel rods are stored. Officials are particularly concerned about the pool at the Unit 3 reactor, which is believed to be nearly empty. Without enough water covering them, the rods will release dangerous levels of radiation.

The twin natural disasters knocked out power to the plant, crippling its cooling systems. Officials hope to have a new power line to the facility up and running by Friday, but there’s no guarantee the cooling systems will work even when electricity is restored.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano confirmed the Japanese government reached out to the Americans for help Friday, but wouldn’t go into specifics. U.S. President Barack Obama has said he’d provide any help Japan needed.

An American military fire truck was used alongside six Japanese military fire trucks to spray water on the Unit 3 reactor Friday. On Thursday Japanese military helicopters dumped water on the plant in the hopes some would make it inside to replenish the cooling pools.

The Japanese government acknowledged Friday that it was overwhelmed by the natural disasters, which slowed its response to the ensuing nuclear crisis.

A core group of emergency workers, called “The Fukushima 50”, has been on the front lines of the crisis. The workers have risked their own health to avert a total meltdown.

The normally bustling streets of Tokyo are virtually empty and low levels of radiation have been recorded in areas well beyond the capital. Many Japanese people have expressed frustration at the lack of information from the government about the nuclear crisis.

On Thursday U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jazcko said it could be days and possibly weeks until crews manage to get the situation under control. The Americans have recommended an 80-kilometre evacuation zone around the plant for its citizens, as has the Canadian government. Japan has imposed a 50km zone.

The U.S., Australia and France have chartered planes to get their citizens out of Japan. The Canadian government chartered buses to get citizens out of the quake zone.

With files from The Associated Press.

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