Here are some specifics
"Neither classification quantifies how dangerous the stuff beng cleaned up is, nor does either classification give an indication of the severity of the release or if there have been any fatalities."
Looks pretty clear that "Level 7" was in part based on the amount of radiation released and is not just some random number chosen to scare people or generate page hits:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9MHJQTO0&show_article=1
"Haruki Madarame, chairman of the commission, which is a government panel, said it has estimated that the release of 10,000 terabecquerels of radioactive materials per hour continued for several hours."
and
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/04/11/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html?hpt=T1&iref=BN1
"Regulators have determined the amount of radioactive iodine released by the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was at least 15 times the volume needed to reach the top of the International Nuclear Event Scale, the agency said. That figure is still about 10 percent of the amount released at Chernobyl, they said.
The amount of radioactive Cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, is about one-seventh the amount released at Chernobyl, according to the agency."
Biting the hand that feeds IT
