Today we have a new measure of the magnitude of the crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The Japanese government raised the situation from a Level 5 event to Level 7 on the international system for rating nuclear accidents. Level 7 is the top of the scale. Japan’s crisis now shares the worst-ever ranking with the 1986 accident at Ukraine’s Chernobyl nuclear plant; even though scientists believe the amount of radiation released so far is only a tenth of what was released at Chernobyl.
One of John King USA’s frequent guests since the crisis began has been nuclear safety expert Arnie Gundersen, the chief engineer for Fairewinds Associates. Back on March 16th, nearly a month ago, he predicted the crisis will reach Level 7.
He’ll be with us again tonight at 7pm EST, and we’ll ask what’s ahead.
In the meantime, you’ll find it both interesting and worth your time to read Gundersen’s postings about the crisis on the Fairewinds Associates website. Just click on this link: http://www.fairewinds.com/