Akhir 07, 1432 H/ March 12, 2011, SPA -- Japan officially informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Saturday that it experienced a "nuclear accident with local consequences" at its Fukushima nuclear plant because radioactive doses at the sites' boundary were above-limit. Japanese authorities posted a short report on the IAEA's nuclear incident database, assigning the accident the level 4 on the international INES scale that runs from 1 (anomaly) to 7 (major accident), dpa reported. A level-4 accident is defined as having "local consequences," such as a "minor release of radioactive material," according to the IAEA's definition. The database entry said reactor unit 1 of the Fukushima Daiichi power station was "generally shut down" around 2:46 pm (05:46 GMT) Saturday because of the earthquake. "After that, the radioactive dosage value at site boundary had exceeded the limit value," it said. An IAEA spokesman was not immediately able to specify how Japan defines the term site boundary.
