The Japan accident is now a 7 out of 7 on the international scale, the same as Chernobyl. This is for past radiation releases. It is just a re-evaluation of what has already happened: see link.

This second link from the other day, pasted here, shows windmills in front of the cooling towers for a French nuclear plant. A decade or 2 ago I saw these and was somewhat amazed by the mural of a child playing on them, and mentioned to my brother in law, who is a safety engineer for EDF (French electric, nuclear), that you would not see this in the USA.
I thought then that the child was playing with blocks, but I see now it is a sea shell. Note that the shell is dead.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/04/11/japan.fukushima.nuclear.industry/index.html#

As I've said before, I'm not opposed to nuclear power: I am conflicted. I have problems with no place in USA to store high level waste. Geologic training gives an appreciation of long periods of time (think half lives). Climate change is more immediate than whether Yucca Mountain should have been designed for 10 million years rather than 10 thousand years.

Chris

• Nuclear disaster 7 out of 7