Japan increased the gravity level at Fukushima from 4 to 5 on a 7 scale, the Atomic Energy International Agency announced on Friday, quoted by Reuters. The level is similar to the one in 1979, following the accident at the Three Mile ISLAND Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania, US.

The level 5 classifies the Japan situation as an accident with extended consequences. BBC writes that the level 5 marks Fukushima only two levels behind the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.