The nuclear crisis in Japan has been rated equivalent to six on the INES scale and there are fears that it could reach level seven. INES stands for International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale and has seven levels from one to seven. The scale was developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, in association with other nuclear agencies and member countries. The scale has been in use since 1990.
The INES scale is the Richter scale to measure the impact of nuclear and radiological events. Levels 1–3 are called 'incidents' and Levels 4–7 'accidents'. The levels increase according to the severity of an event and each level is ten times greater than the previous level on the scale. Events that do not pose any significant threat are termed as 'deviations' and are classified below the scale at level 0. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster was rated seven and Three Mile Island a five.
While the scale is used for measurement of nuclear and radiological accidents and incidents including transport, storage and use of radioactive material and radiation sources and also loss or theft of radioactive sources or packages, including sources inadvertently transferred into the scrap metal trade. But the INES scare does not cover the actual or potential consequences for patients exposed to radiation as part of a medical procedure.
The INES scale is for use in civil applications and relates to the safety aspects of an event. The scale is not intended to rate military activities or security-related events or malicious acts to deliberately expose people to radiation. This means that a impact of a nuclear attack will not be measured on the INES scale.
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