alpha ray it can be accumulated in -- hello there. welcome. you're watching nhk world, and this is "newsline" for 11:00 a.m. japan time. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. traces of plutonium have been detected in soil samples from the compounds of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the operator of the plant, tokyo electric power company, says the level detected is very low and does not pose a threat to human health. the government said it will conduct further monitoring to see its possible effects. >> translator: concentration of the detected plutonium is comparable to the environmental

fallo fallout, it is comparable to the level that will be found in our environment. however, if you look at the types of plutonium, the composition is different from the general fallout. because of this we believe this plutonium is likely to come from the reactor. higher level of plutonium, we need to take additional measures, so our intention for now is to continue on with the monitoring on the site. chief cabinet secretary edano also said the fact that plutonium was detected proves that fuel rods had temporarily melted down in the reactor and that this is a grave situation. he said the government is making all-out efforts to prevent further possible effects in the surrounding areas. tepco collected samples from five locations around the power plant over two days from march 21st, two of which were found to

be contaminated with traces of plutonium. plutonium is a by-product of the nuclear power generation process using uranium fuel. at the number 3 reactor of the fukushima plant plutonium is an ingredient in mixed oxide fuel, or mox fuel. plutonium can remain in human lungs and other organs and cause long-term damage, including cancer. radioactivity from plutonium can be blocked by a sheet of paper. at the troubled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant the effort to cool the reactors is faced with the challenge of preventing further leakage of highly radioactive substances. >> translator: the challenge is to inject enough water into the reactors for them to cool down stably. but at the same time avoid the outflow of water. >> a tepco official says they have detected on sunday more

than 1,000 millisieverts per hour from the water in the trench of the number 2 reactor building. the trench is a concrete tunnel located outside the turbine building near the reactor. it houses power cables and pipes connecting the reactor unit and goes out near the pacific ocean. japan's independent nuclear safety agency, or rather commission, believes that highly radioactive substances found in the trench may have come from the vessel containing the reactor. the water in the trench for the number 1 reactor unit would overflow if the level reaches more than ten centimeters. tepco has closed the drain from the trench with sandbags and concrete shielding to prevent water from leaking into the ocean. it has also reduced the amount of water injected to cool the number 2 reactor. but the temperature in the reactor has risen by 20 degrees celsius. the death toll in japan's devastating march 11th earthquake has climbed to 11,004

people, with more than 17,000 still missing. japan's land ministry has found that the tsunami had reached more than 40 kilometers upstream from the mouths of the rivers. >> translator: in kitakamikawa, 49 kilometers of stream, and this image captures how the tides have reached inland. aomori, iwate, miyagi, and fukushima, these four prefectures, seven times the area encircled by the yamanata line in tokyo have been inundated. according to the geographic survey institute, a quarter remains -- resides within the city center. 63% of the city area miyagi prefecture have been inundated

and otsushi. miyagi prefecture, roughly 46% of the town area have been inundated. in the devastated area they are speeding ahead with measures in order to build prefabricated homes and also to restore urban infrastructure. however, there are major obstacles in the way. the research institute have stepped into kesennuma city of miyagi prefecture that have suffered devastating damages. along the kesennuma port, along 2.5 meters from the map there is a tank that had been toppled. this contains heavy fuel. the heavy fuel may have spilled over into the town area and could have been the source of widespread fires.

at 500 meters from the coast there is a 330-ton large vessel that has been washed to this distance. this is a witness. he says that from the red building just alongside it, along the road, the vessel had been washed to where it is. he never dreamt that such a large vessel would find its way here. and this researcher says that there are vessels and also tanks that are installed along the port and these are debris that have been washed away and this is one such example and we need to understand how this has happened so that we can set up countermeasures for future recurrences. survivors of the quake and

tsunami begin the struggle to rebuild their lives. some of the hardest-hit areas are beginning to rebound. >> reporter: at the affected areas the signs of recovery is gradually -- in this major supermarket from yesterday they restarted a 24 hours a day service. goods not procured in the local areas are gathered from kanto and kansai taking advantage of the national channels and this woman says she's very happy because she feels a sign of the recovery and she also has the peace of mind because normal life is coming back to her. and the leader of the -- the head of the store says that he would like to create the shop

which would not cause any inconvenience on the part of the customers. railways are slowly back to normal. this is jr senseki sen, a part of the sendai metropolitan area has now the railway service. and this is very comfortable because this man says that he had to walk all the way to the office. as for the railways, tohoku shinkansen is going to restart the operation by the end of next month. but the coastal lines will have more time for the all-out recovery. and this is ri kuchlt zen that kata city. an ad hoc city assembly.

devastated and washed away by tsunami so, they moved the location here. the assembly start with silent prayer to the victims. 19 assembly members. out of 19 one passed away and one is still missing. mayor mr. hitoshi toba convened the first meeting after the disaster said this is going to be a long fight but asked that the cooperation of the assembly members to tide over their hardship and keep fighting for the stability and recovery of citizens' livelihood. this is the sports center of yamagata city that many people from the fukushima prefectures are taking refuge. the players of soccer j yamagata visited in this shelter in order to encourage the students by way

of offering a soccer session. training session. and the students are elementary school and middle schools join in the practice sessions with the professional athletes. the little kids for the first time over a long period of time could join in the exercise using soccer balls. this boy says that he has been very bored because there had been nothing to do in the shelter, however he's very happy because he has a lot to do. another boy says that he feels excited and he now learned how to love soccer. kentaru shimizu, one of the top star players of yamagata, said

he was very surprised that many of the children are very cheerful and with their energy that the local community will recover. nishigo, village is accepting many refugees, or evacuees. and before that new school year starts they ask for the donation of the school necessities. many utensils and backpacks are donated one after another from the village dwellers. and many of the evacuees are to leave all the necessities before evacuation so these are very helpful. one boy says he's looking for it through the school opening. and this is minamisanriku, heavily damaged by tsunami. the members of the volunteer group, which is called the memory recovery troops, are trying to find memorabilia.

of affected people. this must be the graduation photo. this is a family album. it's covered with mud so that i have to wash the mud away. to see them well. they remove the dirt and mud one by one. and gather the memorabilia. and one of the volunteers say that he would like to gather the memorabilia as much as possible to deliver back to the people who are now suffering from the earthquake and tsunami. east japan railways says it will resume full operations on the quake-hit tohoku shinkansen bullet train line between tokyo and shin aomori in about one month's time. jr east resumed service between tokyo and nasushibaru.

service between nor yoka and shin aomori restarted last week. they say the shinkansen tracks and facilities did not suffer major damage but the route will be opened in stages after repair work is done and full service will resume by the end of april. as for the yamagata shinkansen service between fukushima and shinjo, the company says normal operations will restart on thursday. right. well, let's take a look at the latest in business news. ai uchida joins us in the studio. >> thanks very much, catherine. and welcome to "newsline" business. to expedite insurance payments to survivors of the recent disaster in northeastern japan, casualty insurers will use photographs taken from above to confirm total losses of properties. for earthquake insurance policies the amount of payout is normally determined through on-site inspection. but the march 11th earthquake and tsunami have devastated such

a wide area that the usual process would result in substantial delays in disbursing insurance benefits. the general insurance association of japan says aerial and satellite photos will be used instead to determine areas that suffered total losses. the industry group says it has already confirmed the total loss status on a few coastal communities in the northeast. it says more will likely be designated as such. japan's energy policy is now at a turning point following the accident at fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. due to recent events the industry ministry has postponed the compilation of an energy white paper. the white paper reports on supply and demand of the country's energy based on the law. the ministry originally planned to get the cabinet approval of the report in may. however, it decided to postpone it to later this year as some within the government say that a

review in the energy policy has become unavoidable following the accident. moreover, the government's current priority is to deal with the ongoing nuclear crisis and the sufficient supply of power in upcoming summer, when electricity consumption peaks. the ministry is also expected to review the country's basic energy policy, which includes building 14 or more nuclear power reactors in the next 20 years. share prices fell in tokyo on tuesday, as investors remained directionless on how long effects from the nuclear crisis could last. the nikkei index closed the morning session at 9,338, down about 1.5%, or 139 points. sources say that sell orders are being placed on a wide range of shares. this follows a report that a low level of plutonium was found in soil at the fukushima daiichi

nuclear power plant. on the tokyo foreign exchange the dollar is almost unchanged against the yen on tuesday morning. the greenback is now frayeding between 81.66-69, and the euro now stands between 114.97-115 yen. sources say that investors are worried about a delay in restoring the cooling system at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. they're also waiting to see the impact that the nuclear crisis has on japan's economy. now here's a look at the latest long-term interest rates. this is the yield on the benchmark ten-year jnds government bond. and in other parts of asia, hong kong and mainland chinese markets are down this tuesday morning. hong kong's hang seng and shanghai's key index for major blue chips both down about .2%. and in shenzhen the sse composite is down .8%.

the earthquake and tsunami have dealt a heavy blow to japan's auto industry. parts shortages have affected carmakers and their suppliers across the country. >> reporter: this factory in yokohama city south of tokyo is a key link in japan's auto parts supply chain. it processes transmissions and other metal parts. a high temperature oven is used to strengthen the parts to improve durability. but many clients are based in the quake-hit to hoch yue region. shipments have dropped by half since the disaster. the factory holds a crisis meeting. >> shipments from some of our clients are down 20% or 25%. >> output of one client is only 20% of the pretsunami level. >> reporter: management decides to shut down a quarter of its ovens.

in addition, it asks 6 of its 46 employees to stay home. >> translator: the situation is brutal. we can't predict what will happen. our clients don't know what to expect, either. >> reporter: the loss of orders is not the only problem. the company is also worried about the prospect of rolling power cuts. if the blackouts are extended to include the factory, it will have to turn off all its ovens. it takes 15 hours to restart them. >> the earthquake and the rolling power cuts have had a huge impact over a wide area. the impact will spread to areas not directly hit by the earthquake and tsunami. unless related industries coordinate their efforts to deal with these problems. carmakers say a shortage of semiconductors and other parts means it will take some time

before their assembly lines resume full operations. so far the earthquake and tsunami have delayed production of a total of 300,000 cars at eight major carmakers. now here's a recap of the latest market figures. ♪ ♪ now back to the main news with catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. libya's anti-government forces are closing in on sirte, the hometown of moammar al gadhafi. they met fierce counterattacks on monday from loyalist troops defending the city. the battles occurred at nafariya, about 120 kilometers

from sirte. sirte is a coastal resort town where gadhafi once held international conferences and hosted foreign guests. the town is now guarded by elite soldiers from gadhafi's tribe. the opposition forces continue to advance west toward the capital tripoli. after capturing oil refineries and ports in northeastern libya with air support from international forces. a coalition of western powers have imposed a no-fly zone over the country and launched attacks on gadhafi's forces. on sunday night french fighter jets bombed his command centers near tripoli. the attack continued the following day. british jets struck ammunition bunkers in the southern desert of saba on monday. in london british prime minister david cameron and french president nicolas sarkozy issued a joint statement calling on gadhafi to step down. the statement warned the libyan people will face further difficulties if gadhafi's loyalists continue to support

the government. in washington, meanwhile, u.s. president barack obama says the role of the united states will be limited to logistical and indirect support for the libyan people. nato will take over complete command of military actions against gadhafi's forces. >> and that we would transfer responsibilities to our allies and partners. we will work with the international community to provide assistance to the people of libya who need food for the hungry and medical care for the wounded. hello and welcome back to your weather update. we're taking a look at conditions across sxwrrngs it is still looking pretty calm today. especially this morning a lot of warm sunshine spreading across the country. we've got that cold air here really retreating to the north. so much more warmer conditions throughout the country expected today. and a little precipitation, too,

is expected. we are seeing a couple of these blue spots showing up here and there. there is going to be a little bit of instability building up throughout the atmosphere this afternoon. so that could allow for a couple isolated showers, maybe even some thunderstorms for the southern portions of the country. but overall, we are not talking about a lot of rainfall, just a few scattered showers at most, and those temperatures are really looking quite nice for northern japan, a nice change from the subfreezing levels we've been seeing last week. 7.8 already in sendai, getting up to 6.2 in fukushima and 9.3 degrees in onohama and this afternoon we're looking forward to even more warmth here. 12 in sendai, even 14 degrees for fukushima. so the mid teens. more yoka and aomori too looking at 9 degrees for your high. winds too will be coming in from the south. some warmer winds, too, for much of tuesday all the way into the afternoon hours. in morioka it's going to be

coming out of the southwest for an offshore flow. but in the south you're looking at an onshore flow again today. for the next couple of days more sunshine is xrngsd especially in the northern end of japan. miyako looking at sunny spells for tuesday and wednesday. a couple isolated showers will be possible in sendai and onahama but very little amounts. at most daytime too we're looking at the teens for the next couple of days. so that should make it to much milder. now, we are looking at those isolated showers but they're still very small. so there's been heightened fire risk across japan with all the dry weather. more sunshine is forecast through this week. so you do want to watch out. fire risk is going to be very high. in areas of course people in evacuation shelters have been using firewood to stay warm. that also ups the risk of these fires spreading. you do want to take a lot of precautions here. all right. so let's look at your weather conditions for now. and here is your three-day outlook. ♪

traces of plutonium have been detected in soil samples from the compounds of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the operator of the plant, tokyo electric power company, says the level detected is very low and does not pose a threat to human health. the government said it will conduct further monitoring to see its possible effects. >> translator: concentration of detected plutonium is comparable to the environmental fallout.

it is comparable to the level that will be found in outdoor environment. however, if you look at the types of plutonium, the composition is different from the general fallout. because of this we believe this plutonium is likely to come from the reactor. higher level of plutonium, we need to take additional measures. so our intention for now is to continue on with the monitoring. on the site. >> chief cabinet secretary edano also said the fact that plutonium was detected proves that fuel rods had temporarily melted down in the reactor and that this is a grave situation. he said the government is making all-out efforts to prevent further possible effects in the surrounding areas. tepco collected samples from five locations around the power plant over two days, from march 21st, two of which were found to be contaminated with traces of

plutonium. polluteownium is a by-product of the nuclear power generation process using uranium fuel. at the number 3 reactor of the fukushima plant plutonium is an ingredient in mixed oxide fuel, or mox fuel. plutonium can remain in human lungs and other organs and cause long-term damage including cancer. radioactivity from plutonium can be blocked by a sheet of paper. at the troubled nuclear power plant the effort to cool the reactors is faced with the challenge of preventing further leakage of highly radioactive substances. >> translator: the challenge is to inject enough water into the reactors for them to cool down stably but at the same time avoid the outflow of water. >> a tepco official says they have detected on sunday more than 1,000 millisieverts per hour from the water in the trench of the number 2 reactor

building. the trench is a concrete tunnel located outside the turbine building near the reactor. it houses power cables and pipes connecting the reactor unit and goes out near the pacific ocean. japan's independent nuclear safety commission believes that highly radioactive substances found in the trench may have come directly from the vessel containing the reactor. the water in the trench for the number 1 reactor unit would overflow if the level reaches more than ten centimeters. tepco has closed the drain from the trench with sandbags and concrete shielding to prevent water from leaking into the ocean. it has also reduced the amount of water injected to cool the number 2 reactor. but the temperature in the reactor has risen by 20 degrees celsius. iwate prefecture was one area hit hard by the march 11th earthquake and tsunami. otsushi town in the prefecture was flattened. a ferry perched on a two-story

building is evidence of the powerful tsunami that swept through the area. many viewers have asked how they can help. if you would like to donate to help the people affected by the earthquake, do check the website on your screen below. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. thanks for joining us.