Japan: Good news/bad news

The good news from Japan right now is that their government is being honest with them, the populace, and protecting them (probably, mostly) and telling them what's going on.

The bad news is that, as we suspected, it's not good:

Japan ups nuke crisis severity to match Chernobyl

By Yuri Kageyama And Ryan Nakashima, Associated Press


TOKYO – Japan's nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing the amount of radiation released in the accident.


The regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 — the highest level on an international scale overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, there was no sign of any significant change at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.


The new ranking signifies a "major accident" with "wider consequences" than the previous level, according to the Vienna-based IAEA.


"We have upgraded the severity level to 7 as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," said Minoru Oogoda of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

NISA officials said one of the factors behind the decision was that the cumulative amount of radioactive particles released into the atmosphere since the incident had reached levels that apply to a Level 7 incident.


The revision was based on cross-checking and assessments of data on leaks of radioactive iodine-131 and cesium-137, said NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama.


Meantime, over here in the States, our government is telling us precious little.  The French, for pity's sake, reported better data on what came over California than ours did.   (See yesterday's post).

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake