Japan Nuclear Disaster Put on Par With Chernobyl - NYTimes.com

By HIROKO TABUCHI and KEITH BRADSHER

Published: April 12, 2011

"The decision to raise the alert level to 7 from 5 on the scale amounts to an admission that the accident at the nuclear facility, brought on by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, is likely to have substantial and long-lasting consequences for health and for the environment. Some in the nuclear industry have been saying for weeks that the accident released large amounts of radiation, but Japanese officials had played down this possibility."