Rajender Pal, a 35-year-old scrap dealer, dismantled a gamma irradiator and cut open the cobalt-60 capsule from the scrapped machine. He died earlier this month from multiple organ failure caused by radiation poisoning after being exposed at Delhi's Mayapuri scrap yard. Seven co-workers were also exposed and hospitalized. Two will require bone-marrow transplants. Hundreds of dealers operate at the scrap yard, and it is surrounded by densely-populated residential areas. Police cordoned off a ten-square-mile area during the cleanup.

The machine was discarded by a chemistry laboratory at the University of Delhi. It was imported from Canada in 1970 and had not been used since 1985. Deepak Pental, vice-chancellor of the University, said the active life of the material had been miscalculated.

Didier Louvat, a nuclear waste specialist with the International Atomic Energy Agency, told The New York Times that the Mayapuri case was the most serious instance of radiation exposure anywhere in the world since 2006.

The quake triggers the prompt shutdown of five nuclear power plants in the area. At the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the tsunami knocks out the backup diesel generators being used to power the cooling pumps after main power failed. There is still enough residual heat in the cores of the three operating reactors there to cause problems. (Three others were already shut down for inspections.) Mobile generators are brought in, but cannot be connected to the plant systems because the connectors do not match.

On Saturday, 12 March, the Unit 1 reactor suffers a hydrogen explosion after the core is vented to relieve pressure as residual heat cannot be removed fast enough. One worker dies and four others are injured by the blast. Little radiation is released; the wind carries it out to sea. A second explosion, at Unit 3, occurs on Monday, 14 March, injuring 11 people. At reactor #2, a third explosion occurs early in the morning on Tuesday, 15 March.

Concern then turns to the spent-fuel pools, which also are not getting cooling water. It is believed that enough water boiled away from the pool at reactor 4 to expose the tops of fuel rods, which then generates hydrogen causing a fourth explosion. Radiation in the area reaches dangerous levels, but quickly dissipates. As Japanese authorities struggle to keep the situation under control, fears mount that this could be a worse crisis than Three Mile Island, affecting other countries.

On Wednesday, 16 March, a second fire occurs at #4. (The head of the U.S. NRC says the spent-fuel pool is completely dry; Japanese officials deny this.) Also, there are reports of trouble at #5 & #6, previously OK. Measures being considered are to fill the pools from a distance using riot-control water cannons, or to drop it from buckets under helicopters flown by JDF members. The latter depends on low radiation counts.

In recognition of the cumulative effects to be expected from this disaster, on 12 April 2011 it was upgraded to INES Level 7 — a major accident. The death toll stands at ???