The final assignment in our online environmental chemistry course is to discuss the recent nuclear crisis in Japan. This disaster resulted in many deaths and many more homeless or serious damage (2). The Japanese government has raised the Fukushima Dai-ichi crisis rating to level 7 (1). The scale used, the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), was introduced in 1990 to help educate the public about the importance of certain events. The scale legend indicates that each level is 10 times more devastating than the next lowest level (9). The Fukushima Dai-ichi accident is only the second disaster to be classified at the highest level (the other being Chernobyl in Ukraine), meaning it is a “major accident releasing radioactive material with widespread health effects and on the environment” (9) ( 1). Even though Fukushima and Chernobyl were both classified as the same disaster level, from a health perspective, Japan had only a fraction of the negative effects of Ukraine (1). The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami. . This power plant is located in the great city of Tokyo where, on the morning of Friday, March 11, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake swept a path 230 miles wide northeast of Tokyo, Japan. This water-laden earthquake has been ranked fifth worldwide since records began (6). In a 225-page report from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), it said the earthquake caused holes in nuclear reactors as large as 2.8-3.9 inches. While the report is mostly speculative, a consensus has been reached that whatever hole was caused by the earthquake has only grown larger with time. Expert opinion is that the reactor vessels are severely damaged and the fuel rods for three reactors... at the center of the document... les.cnn.com/2011-03-15/world/japan.nuclear. disaster.timeline_1_power-plant-reactor-containment-structure?_s=PM:WORLD>.(7) Lah, Kyung. "Holes feared in two Japanese nuclear reactors." Cable news network. Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc., May 25, 2011. Web. July 18, 2011. .(8) "The Science of Japan's Nuclear Crisis." NPR. National Public Radio. Network. 20 July 2011. .(9) Ward, Victoria. “Japanese Nuclear Power Plant: How the Fukushima Crisis Occurs on Nuclear Disaster Scale.” The telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited, 15 March 2011. Web. 19 July 2011. .