THE Japanese government on Tuesday raised the Fukushima nuclear accident level from five to seven, the same severity assigned to the Chernobyl disaster, Kyodo News reported.

The crippled Fukushima nuclear plant had been releasing up to 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour following the massive earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

Preliminary estimates from the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan (NSC) released last night suggested that more radiation than was previously thought might have escaped in the initial hours after the quake.

One week after the twin disasters, the agency rated Fukushima's problems a five, the same as the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US in 1979.