Voice of America correspondent Steve Herman, was the first of two American reporters to drive to the grounds of the crippled Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. He was turned away at the main gate. Japan declared the Fukushima Daiichi crisis a Level 7 event on the international system for rating nuclear accidents Tuesday, putting it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union. The designation was based on the massive release of radioactivity since the accident began, particularly in its early days, and classifies Fukushima Daiichi a "major accident" requiring long-term countermeasures.