April 12, 2011 | 16 One month to the day after the devastating
twin blows of a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and subsequent 15-meter
tall tsunami, Japanese officials have reclassified the accident
at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant at the highest
possible level. The partial meltdown of three reactors and at
least two spent fuel pools, along with multiple hydrogen
explosions at the site now rate a 7 on the International Nuclear
Event Scale—a level previously affixed only to the meltdown and
explosion at Chernobyl. Fukushima is now officially a "major
accident" per the scale—roughly 100 times worse than the worst
civilian nuclear accident in the U.S.: the partial meltdown at
Three Mile Island—constituting "a major release of radioactive
material with widespread health and environmental effects." The
elevated level doesn’t mean that anything further has gone wrong
with the stricken nuclear power plant, although efforts are
ongoing to cool the nuclear fuel and prevent any further
radioactive material from es