The Nuclear Regulation Authority proposed Wednesday raising the severity status of the recent radioactive water leak from a tank at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to level 3 from an earlier level 1 on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES).
The level 3 rating corresponds to a "serious accident" while the level 1 designation means an "anomaly," according to the eight-level rating system.
The NRA said about 300 tons of highly radioactive water has leaked from tank No. 5 in the H4 area of the damaged plant. In total, it said, the nuclear materials released into the environment has been estimated at several thousand terabecquerels, converted into radioactive molybdenum 99.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.