we have live -- a live stream of our broadcast on the website, and we will continue to -- welcome to "newsline." in this hour we are expecting to hear prime minister naoto kan with a special message to the japanese people. you are now looking at the live footage from prime minister naoto kan's office in tokyo. in this hour we are expecting to hear prime minister naoto kan with a special message to the japanese people. for more information and updates you can please refer to live stream of our broadcast on the nhk world website at the url shown on the screen.

in this hour expecting to hear prime minister naoto kan with a special message to the japanese people. you are looking at the live footage from the prime minister's office in tokyo. first we have chief cabinet secretary -- chief cabinet secretary yukio edano entering the room. we are expecting to see prime minister naoto kan with a special message to the japanese people. here we have prime minister naoto kan. this is live footage from tokyo, prime minister kan's office. >> translator: i would like to speak to the japanese citizens. the situation at the fukushima number 1 nuclear power plant. please listen to my message

calmly. the fukushima nuclear power plant, as has been explained so far, after the earthquake and tsunami the nuclear reactors have shut down, and ordinarily the emergency diesel engines that should have been used to cool down the reactors have all gone out of function. every possible method has been used to cool down the reactor. however, for reactor number 1 and reactor number 3 hydrogen came out, causing a hydrogen explosion. and also for reactor 4 we have

seen fire. and radiation has spread from these reactors and the reading of the level seems very high. and there is still a very high risk of further radioactive material coming out from the fukushima number 1 nuclear power pla plant. a 20-kilometer radius has become an area for evacuation. most of the people have evacuated from this area we need now for everybody to move out of the 20-kilometer radius from the number one plant.

and in areas from 20 to 30 kilometers from the power plant, depending on what happens at the power plant, we would like to ask you to remain indoors, at home or in your offices. we would like to ask you to remain indoors and avoid going outside. for fukushima number 2 nuclear power plant already people have almost all evacuated from the 10-kilometer radius. now we are requesting that everybody move out from the 10-kilometer radius from the number 2 plant.

if -- or rather we are making every effort possible so that no further explosion or no further leakage of radiative material would happen. and the people at the power plant are carrying out operation to inject water to cool the reactors despite -- they are putting themselves in a very dangerous situation. so in that sense we hope that we can avoid further radiation leakage. and i would like to ask the

nation, although this is an incident of great concern, but i request that you act very cal y calmly. and with that i would like to end my request and message to the japanese public. >> translator: you have not talked about the number 2 reactor. i believe the number 2 reactor is in a serious situation. >> translator: rather than talking about each individual reactor, there are several things happening at these power plants. so we are looking at the total picture in planning our response. so rather than talking about each individual reactor, i have talked about the whole picture. i believe reports on the individual reactors would come from the tokyo electric power

company. >> that was a special message from the prime minister. next we have a press conference by chief cabinet secretary yukio edano. >> translator: following the prime minister's special mess e message, i would like to sheer some information with you. this morning some new developments have been observed since the last time i held a news conference. for specific timing and values,

tokyo electric power company is going to announce those specific and accurate figures. so i limit myself in giving you an overall information. first of all, i'd rilike to tal about number 4 reactor. number 4 reactor is now seeing a fire going on. at the time of the quake the number 4 reactor was out of operati operation. there is no fuel rods in the reactor. but used, spent fuels are still inside the number 4 reactor.

and such spent fuels are heated, and hydrogen was generated. and the hydrogen explosion that we observed for number 1 and number 3 reactors seems to have occurred for number 4 reactor. so number 4 reactor is currently burning. in case of number 1 and number 3 reactors, outer building were blown off, but it seems that for number 4 reactor such falling objects fell inside the number 4 react

reactor. hydrogen is being generated. so we assume that the radioactive substances are also being release d. number 4 reactor is no more housed in the outer building. so it seems that the substances are coming out from the number 4 reactor. we are doing the utmost, making utmost effort to put out the fire and also still continuing to cool down the number 4 reactor. with regard to number 2 reactor, a sound of blast was heard this morning. it was 30 minutes after the incident of number 4 reactor

that was around 6:30 a.m. today. as for the second reactor, the hole was observed in the number 2 reactor. so we've been saying to the public that there's very little possibility that hydrogen explosion would occur at number 2 reactor. this happened when i was holding a press conference this morning. part of the suppression chamber seems to have caused the sound of blast. and a little amount of radioactive substance is assumed

to be released to the outside. and it is said that a smoke-like stream is seen from the number 2 reactor, the building, but probably the damage has been found where hydrogen and water come to contact, and i believe this steam could be hydrogen. and right up -- so i am informing you based on what we've heard right before this meeting. so 1, 2, and 3 reactors, water injection operation is continuing. and so far for all three reactors water injection is continuing smoothly and we

believe that cooling is effectively done. the next problem will be how to maintain this cooling. and also we need to deal with that issue as well as the fire in number 4 reactor. as for radioactive material and the radiation level, some time has passed, but as of 10:22 a.m. according to the monitoring that has been done at that time, between reactor number and 3, 38 millisievert and 400 millisievert and at reactor number 4 100 millisievert were the -- rather they were all

millisieve millisieverts, which is larger than the microsieverts which has been used so far. so now we are talking about levels that can impact human health. i would like all of you to embrace this information calmly. but these are readings taken near the area where we believe the release of radioactive substances is having. the further away you get from the power plant or reactor, the value should go down. so as of 6:00 a.m. the staff -- the 800 staff that remained in the power plant, all but 50 who are directly involved in injecting water to cool the reactors have been evacuated. and as i've said, we have heard that water injection operation

is still continuing smoothly. the situation that i'm reporting is of very high concern to all of you, and i regret that we are reporting this. but in preparing for this scenario we have asked you to evacuate from the 20-kilometer radius from the plant. now that we see these new developments, as the prime minister has said in his message, from the 20 to 30-kilometer radius area we are asking you to remain indoors. do not go outside but stay indoors.

and when staying indoors please keep the windows shut. do not use ventilation equipment. and if you are to hang your laundry, please keep them indoors. the further away you move from the power plants, the radiation level will become lower. so beyond the 20-kilometer radius the radiation level should be reduced quite much, so that the harm to human health would be minimal or none at all. but still of course the radiation spread will depend on the wind speed and wind direction. so please make sure you that stay indoors so that you are not exposed to any radiation that may come your way.

and i'm holding this news conference after our cabinet decision. at the cabinet meeting we have talked about ordinary matters and also we have discussed what we have learned already. and the whole cabinet is getting together to deal with this situation also. we have talked about rescue operations and assistance that are necessary for the earthquake-stricken areas. with this i would like to end my comments. >> translator: at this moment is pressure vessel being damaged?

there's no possibility? how does the government assess the possibility of pressure vessels or container vessels being damaged? how do you see the possibility of the impact spreading to the metropolitan area? >> translator: number 1, number 2, number 3 reactors, for these reactors we are in the process of injecting water. so a certain level of water injection operation has been maintained. and for further details of such a water injection operations please contact tokyo electric power company. so the pressure has also been stabilized at a certain level. and we must do our utmost effort to maintain this level of pressure in the reactors. >> translator: you mentioned about the fire in the number 4 reactor. is the fire in the number 4

reactor more serious than the number 2 incident? >> translator: well, i mentioned about number 4 reactor first because the incident occurred earlier than the number 2 incident. that's why i mentioned or talked about number 4 reactor first. >> translator: not suppression chamber but is there any damage done to the container vessel of number 2 reactor? >> translator: i've got to report that there is a very high probability that the -- some portion of container vessel was damaged. >> translator: number 1, number 2, number 3 reactors? in these reactors?

>> translator: radiation levels from these reactors have a very little possibility of doing harm on human health. a fire is going on, and the fire here is an ordinary fire. just like other reactors, the number 4 reactor is emitting heat. as a result the radiation, radioactive substance is likely to be released from the number 4 reactor the fire that we are seeing at number 4 reactor is not the type of reactor -- the fire that ignite some hazardous materials but the operators are now working on to extinguish

fire at number 4 reactor as well. >> translator: with regard to the evacuation of residents, the people living in 20-kilometer radius continue to be advised to evacuate, but those who are living in 30-kilometer radius are told to stay indoors. >> translator: right. >> translator: some experts say that also the people living in 30-kilometer radius also should be told to evacuate. >> translator: we are listening to the various opinions from the experts, and the final decision was made by the prime minister. currently, we are studying what is the safest measure to be taken. considering the current condition, we are analyzing the -- what's going on, and based on the experts' opinions,

we are now asking people living in 30-kilometer radius from the plant to stay indoors. well, the farther you get away from the plant, the safer it is. but considering the current level of radiation readings, we decided to ask the people in 20-kilometer radius to evacuate and those in 30-kilometer radius to stay indoors based on the opinions of the experts. >> translator: i'm from dzitisushin. for 2, 3, and 4 reactors the radiation readings i believe are quite high. is there any connection between damage that could have been caused at the number 2 reactor containment vessel? >> translator: we cannot say for sure, but reactor number 4

explosion could have caused this very high reading. for the number 2 reactor. or for number 1 and number 3. it is not as stable as number 1 and number 3. but the water injection is working to a certain level for number 2 reactor. and we have heard an explosive sound, but we did not see sudden jumps in the radiation reading right after that. >> translator: if the number 4 fire continues, what could happ happen? >> translator: here in tokyo and also on site we are making every effort possible to extinguish the fire. basically, i'm repeating myself, but the spent fuel is not going to catch fire in a general sense.

the fire is being caused in the building area. but of course it's better to extinguish the fire as early as possible because we don't want the temperature to go up. if heat is created, it may also cause radioactive material from being released. >> translator: so is there any possibility of radioactive material being released because of this fire and damage to the building? >> translator: there is a possibility that certain amounts could have been released. but i would like the tokyo electric power company to give the actual figures. but the current high readings, we believe, are from reactor number 4 fire. we believe reactor number 2 has not contributed greatly to the

fluctuation in the radiation readings. >> translator: the sandigu coast and also the metropolitan people, what do you advise us to do? >> translator: well, basically, as the prime minister has said, first of all, people living in the 20 to 30-kilometer radius area, we want you to remain indoors. do not go outside. but radioactive substances, as was said in past briefings, minimal amounts can spread to very far areas. however, these are at levels that may not cause harm to human health because of course the farther away you go the radiation level would be lower. so based on that knowledge, we want you to keep calm and act calm. so we can continue with our daily lives.

well, yes, in the onagawa plant also we see some radiation levels reading. however, it is at a level that will not cause damage to human health. so that is why we are not asking people who are living in the area to stay indoors. it's only for the fukushima power plants. for people in the 20 to 30 kilometers radius i would like to read out the town or city names that fall into this area.

there are some towns that overlap. with the outside area. or some towns will overlap with a 20-kilometer radius evacuation area. so i would like to read out towns or municipalities that fall into this area. minamiso city. hirono town. naraha town. tomioka town. kawauchi village. okuma town. futaba town. namiya town. katsurao village. iwake village. iwake city. in case of iwake only the northwestern part of the city

falls in the category of this target zone. according to a part of the media report the secretary-general of