Another fire is reported Wednesday Japan Time at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The new fire broke out Wednesday morning at Unit 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
The nuclear safety authority ASN of France now ranks the disaster at a level 6 on the international scale of 1 to 7. The Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986 was a level 7. The Three Mile Island accident in 1979 was rated a level 5.
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An explosion and fire at Unit 4 about 24 hours earlier opened a hole in the outer building, releasing radiation from overheated spent fuel in a storage pool. Japanese authorities confirmed Tuesday that a fire at the spent fuel storage pond at the Unit 4 reactor of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was extinguished. The fire may have been caused by a hydrogen explosion and radioactivity was released “directly” into the atmosphere, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Three explosions at different nuclear reactors at the nuclear plant and a fire at fourth plant had brought more bad news from Japan on Tuesday.
The Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (Nuclear Safety Authority or ASN) is an independent French administrative authority set up by law 2006-686 of June 13 2006 concerning nuclear transparency and safety. Its task, on behalf of the State, is to regulate nuclear safety and radiation protection in order to protect workers, patients, the public and the environment from the risks involved in nuclear activities. It also contributes to informing the citizens.