Japan: Nuclear crisis level raised to highest level

The decision was taken due to radiation measured at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant, NHK reported.

The highest level for nuclear accidents (seven) had previously only applied to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

Meanwhile a 6.3-magnitude earthquake was reported off eastern Japan, the second tremor in as many days.

The aftershocks come a month after a huge quake and tsunami hit Japan, leaving nearly 28,000 dead or missing.

Impact of leaks

An official from the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan announced that the crisis level at the Fukushima Daiichi plant was being raised in a televised statement, adding that it was a preliminary assessment that was subject to confirmation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The level seven signifies a "major accident" with "wider consequences" than the previous level, officials say.

"We have upgraded the severity level to seven as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," said Minoru Oogoda of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (Nisa), the government's nuclear watchdog.

One official from the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), which operates the nuclear plant, said that radiation leaks had not stopped completely and could eventually exceed those at Chernobyl, Reuters news agency reported.

However, a nuclear safety agency spokesman told reporters the leaks were still small compared to those at the plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union; Kazinform cites BBC News.

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