NUCLEAR ALERT IN JAPAN RAISED TO HIGHEST LEVEL

TOKYO, Japan - Japan's nuclear watchdog has raised the severity level of the crisis at its stricken nuclear power plant to 7 - the highest level and equal to the disaster at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union.
The incident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant had previously been rated a 5 on an international scale used to gauge the severity of incidents at nuclear facilities.

• But Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the amount of discharged radioactive materials is approximately 10 per cent of the amount released when a nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl plant in 1986.
• The statement was released as a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 jolted the Tokyo area and its surrounding areas. Japan's Meteorological Agency said the quake struck at 8:08am local time [23:08 GMT] the same day.

A powerful aftershock recorded on Monday evening in the Fukushima prefecture killed three people, emergency workers said.
No casualties were reported in Tuesday's quake, and there were no reports of damage in the Tokyo prefecture, nor any tsunami warning issued.

• But the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which operates the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex, said a fire had briefly broken out at the Number 4 reactor.
• TEPCO said the fire at a box that contained batteries in a building near the reactor was discovered at about 6:38am and put out seven minutes later. It was not clear whether the fire was related to Tuesday morning's earthquake. The cause was being investigated.

Earlier, the government expanded an evacuation zone around the Fukushima plant because of the high levels of accumulated radiation since a tsunami hit the complex a month ago, causing massive damage to its reactors.

Source: Al Jazeera