breaking news at this hour at least four people have been injured fall going to explosion at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant in japan the roof of the reactor has collapsed and residents living within a ten kilometer radius are being evacuated but the extent of the damage is known but there are fears of a possible meltdown this follows friday's record even point nine magnitude earthquake and resulting massive tsunami well the official number of deaths in japan currently stands at more than seven hundred reports claiming thousands are missing.

or watching our team and our continuing coverage of the events unfolding in japan well first it was one of the world's strongest earthquakes eight point nine on the richter scale then a devastating tsunami and now japan faces a nuclear catastrophe well an explosion has been confirmed at. our plants and it's now means that it is facing a complete meltdown bennett's has the latest from tokyo. the roof of the reactor has actually collapsed and that's again suggesting that has been this explosion we've seen the pictures the explosion it's very powerful there that plume of smoke is rising into the sky and also we've heard that one of the four walls of the reactor has also collapsed now the government is clearly worried that the potential new chance

a nuclear meltdown there at the reactor so they've just issued a. warning in advice to people if they are in. cover their mouth and nose so as to not. inhale any of the radioactive particles also cover up any exposed skin and then attack water as well at the moment such as that level of precaution here and other reports just been issued on japanese television is that. officials measured the level of radiation at the entrance to the plants about two hours ago and they said that if you spend an hour there and you it's receive as much radiation as you would do normally in a year in that time so as to give they were saying that the radiation levels were twenty times the normal level western media after that actually were saying the radiation had risen to a thousand times the normal level it seems like you've given this. advice this

health warning to people nationwide even they've evacuated people from the area fifty one thousand in the three kilometer radius of those nuclear reactor in fukushima. and that's just one hundred sixty miles north of tokyo so it's actually surprisingly close to it and there's a very small country because it's just a couple of hours to get across most of the country with the pollutants but here in the capital the situation the feeling on the ground is that. it's actually really quiet people are around but it's free and there isn't widespread panic as he may expect more than it seems the streets are anything new people have left already. well a potential radioactive cloud it could reach the a russian region of just twenty four hours that's according to russian officials are these correspondent. is there and he has more.

well it's not in the immediate proximity of course and it's not yet clear how serious consequences of a possible you know radioactive contamination for the local. residence could be what we're seeing is that the accident at fukushima and this recent explosion is definitely adding to local residents worries shortly after japan's natural disaster on friday their main war is more about ten other tsunami which could hear the there are close to the one which could be more furious more strong one but what they're worried now is about a possible radiative consume a nation we saw residents who were going to pharmacist looking. searching for their own geiger counters to measure the radiation levels and. that which is actually quite hard to do on a weekend unless you work in hospitals a nurse or as a doctor to you while emergency officials are saying that they will keep the public

updated on the latest and say that there will be enough time to becky is it necessary now for a cause reports whether for. all those who are you going to coral islands which is just several miles away from japan's coast we know that it was eleven thousand people have been already vacated to safety from the areas which could be flooded and rescuers are urging local residents to move deeper in land and to shelter about the sea levels. while we also know from the fisherman that this pirate reports have been saying that waves did not reach heights evolve a meter around the curial are loans we know that the waves were as high as three meters on saturday morning well russia says it is ready to help the plan in dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake and also can draw in a wealth of experience in coping with both natural and manmade disasters are going off in moscow now your core just tell us what exactly can russia offer at this

point given the what is happening in japan as the events are unfolding. well first of all the way. events or unfolding in japan is really starting to remind them of what i was a movie. whore to begin examining the scale of the devastation caused by this. earthquake and the tsunami and now with the reports of the explosion at that nuclear power plant who knows what consequences this could bring at the moment russia's emergencies ministry has prepared six jets which are really to deliver doctors medical equipment rescuers and mobile hospital to japan to help japan is actually russia's neighbor in that region northern pacific region and all of this was ordered personally by russia's president dmitry medvedev on a friday these jets have been on standby on friday

a rate after that order. was also ordered all the local emergency services and afterwards to be on high alert in the entire. region in russia's far east because the crew islands which are right there in the neighborhood in japan have also been hit by a smaller tsunami wave eleven thousand people have been evacuated and once again after this explosion out of that nuclear power plant in japan they have to be ready for anything because of these reports of possible nuclear contamination in the entire region so with the events still unfolding in japan it's not really clear what health then hell much help will be needed but once again these six jets are on standby the only thing needed at the moment is a request from japanese authorities russia does have the experience in dealing with earthquakes when it comes to be cool islands be have been hit by earthquakes before

and also moscow has the experience in dealing with nuclear disasters as well meaning of course. nuclear catastrophe twenty five years ago which is still at the moment the worst nuclear disaster in the history but with these reports many resemblances between that disaster in a journal and what's happened before nuclear power plant in japan who knows maybe the disaster will not be the worst nuclear disaster. but hopefully this will not be the scenarios where so once again it's really hard to calculate how much help will be needed but i think judging by the situation there in japan a lot of international effort will be needed as well and the six jets are on standby waiting for the japanese request ok well thank you very much for that

update on all of reporting from moscow. and now we have a correspondent in ukraine as well our next a lot of looks at the similarities disaster what's happening right now in japan. well all along we've been saying that the similarities between what's happening right now in japan and what happened the international twenty five years ago are not that great but as this story is developing we're seeing more and more similar signs between the two events now the most worrying sign is definitely the white smoke coming from the nuclear power station because this is exactly what happened at the chernobyl nuclear station twenty five years ago you know all the people involved in the liquidation process in the clear up operation of the trouble fall out they told me they have been telling me all along that the radiation which was emitted into the atmosphere had no color only a slight trace of white smoke was coming out from the cracked open reactor no

obviously this is what's happening in japan and this is giving a lots of wars to. around the globe and indeed radiate. described by them as an invisible enemy you can't ever see it it kills you whenever you go it's just cannot be seen in the air or particles of it cannot be seen floating in the air indeed the reactor at the fukushima plant in japan is a lot more powerful than the one ensure noble and consequences of this explosion could be drastic could be much more grateful than. your noble pullout which i remind to the view was the still is history's biggest nuclear disaster and consequences of this fallout have been felt everywhere across the european continent and the radiation wave in fact reached as far as the eastern coast of the united states so in this case should the nuclear accident be confirmed in japan

the radiation could affect seriously a factor russia's mainland in the far east some parts of china to a large extent the korean peninsula and other countries of the region this could be a serious damage and threat to the environment everywhere across japan however some experts in the united states for now say that the wind is blowing east towards from japan and should some radiation be emitted from the cracked reactor in. most of the radiate the material would find itself in the middle of the pacific may be reaching probably this may happen if the wind blows very strongly that was the case twenty five years ago in fact during the trouble folau because it all depended on where the wind was blowing the direction of the wind. people in kiev were lucky to escape serious radioactive damage because when they fall out when the explosion at the power plant happened the wind was blowing north north in the north western

direction and this affected some areas mostly unpopulated. but of course some parts of the radioactive emission reached up and in several days the high radioactive levels were detected in sweden this obviously led the whole world to believe that something was wrong in the soviet union which of course kept the chernobyl fallout a secret so in this situation we're seeing right now we've been receiving very very different reports from the japanese government and i we this is on the side of the . first the government has been saying that the situation has been kept under control that this team pressure inside the reactor was seriously we have this reports of explosion and white smoke coming out of the reactor indeed you can blame the authorities for that they're trying to avoid any panic and of course we are anticipating some explanation from the authorities during this press conference

we're getting right now is the moment but indeed the situation. and the fukushima plant are beginning to look more similar with every hour of this developing story. of course the impact of a massive a nuclear disaster on the impact on the economic and social human cost is definitely going to be massive but then there's also the environmental effects well let's get more on what the impact will be on the environment of what's happening in japan from ecologist event from a green peace house or can you really the latest we're having is confirmation that there's been an explosion at the nuclear facility there fears of radiation what what exactly this need from an ecologist perspective what are the dangers there. first of all we can we cannot do what we what but then chicken fingers people in the room with an example of chernobyl nuclear power plant some old estimate shows

that one to two hundred thousand people died because of trouble explosions you can imagine what really happens in japan. i don't feel population and builds up but then bending on the reins in. china bashing factory so. i can get that moment when you really predict something bad like what you did there's still much noise here as young children it's a new political will and need visit there and that's one fifth of no real information about that as does in one minute so this even think that they could dance around in my review there will be boys a big goofy. world the government has issued a state of emergency at several nuclear facilities but we've heard from our correspondent who's in tokyo that people there are still relatively calm a given the government's preparations are trying to get an idea how to people living close by evacuation just how big of a problem is this

a turning into both you mentioned the human cost as well as the environmental cost . you one last. week then a while and then you know look. you know to let. you leave me feeling it bad luck you'll be down there but i guess you. mean by that or do we already know that can't be i need to go you do it quick you can do you get up and you look at the hour and there's still that doubt that well and then people get those things they begin to just sit around and old children love this show and similar to chernobyl you can see quite a lot of there was which maybe it destroyed a wee bit and impossible to leave it just a bit ok ok just give us some idea of radiation levels that are seen as very

dangerous to to a human beings we already saw that the radiant heat in the radiation levels that is has been rising. but how dangerous is it at what level should we be a ringing alarm bells there. it's a level of bigotry deja vu but i would not recommend you leave. which was then you can my granules where i was in fact is a normal full is you can prevent my goodness there i was and what is happening on the gates of the station not what was reported is a drill right five thousand times already which is totally inappropriate for leaving i'm afraid just similar level or even surrounding area and if you will be any good goodness then so much fun that lets you know the world doesn't look a yankee i knew that the beginning of a grateful you call as you rightly mentioned earlier the human cost is really the

most important the safety of the people living within the vicinity even as far away as the capital what is the advice you would give to people who have been in the area contaminated by radiation what could they do with them reached easily done to protect themselves. so that you may just be extended why the good people they still need to be discounting the fact they now saying no they don't get the wreckage all the good people but manage for example was let go and that is the most effective thing not to break particles and not to eat anything which was gone but they were very good with their you know addition to god but i called them even more needed but just in case the potential you are dying will be needed for people using them as a medicine for replays radio down which isn't needed goodness she. took a well that's a go to a bit to be your environmental to the geological. makeup of japan how it is has been dealing with a lot of earthquakes in its history now how come it was difficult to predict such

a big earthquake considering where japan is now why has it been difficult. or c this. difficult to do press hard to think that a similar take before the nine hundred twenty three there was a was a magnitude eight point three and it was eight point nine zero filled with don't leave predictable that statement happened and it was a sure angry thing that rushing to logical special leaves that he's been giving to backstop nuclear power station all the places where your brakes there's a moment too soon and as it shows the games that you cannot construct you cannot produce a few what specific dangers is to be on this dangerous area and he said there is you so you're basically saying that there is just no way that a nuclear power plants can exist safely in an area such as japan it's just not possible is that what you're saying. you cannot be safe you know where it is

a little bit to that danger for nuclear power you reason. in just like japan where you can't expect to know if you're looking did you still rationals and such as. you age you. write me a nuclear power was featured on track she was stalked and one of three leave the world to do look pretty key one big deal more than one side than the other but that was enough to stop the construction you like me from those big but decision was to go suck. ok well thank you very much for all of your insight there may have been a certain event of law called from greenpeace there thank you. jan that breaking news this hour japanese officials have confirmed the explosion at the a fork or she might daiichi power plant in japan at least four people were injured while the extent of the damage and no doubt the momentum but there are fears of a possible meltdown earlier the

a nuclear safety agency says it is collecting information on the blast for now the information we have is that the roof. of the a fukushima reactor has collapsed and radioactivity is said to be rising rapidly now earlier there have been evacuations but now the a radius that the government has put is a twenty kilometer radius anyone within that limit should be evacuated and are being evacuated at the moment and the government is also said to be preparing iodine to secure the safety of people in the area now the public is being urged to save electricity amid a fierce of a power supply cuts well just to remind you earlier a state of emergency was declared at five a nuclear reactors after the generators pumping cooling water failed though this is necessary to keep temperatures at a certain level once it gets too hot there are dangers of summer sea explosions which is what we're seeing right now you can see right smoke billowing from the

a fukushima power plant one another the a prime minister did not rule out a radiation leaks from a second units in the complex again this is a look at the northeast of the capital just to remind you this is happening after an eight point nine earthquake struck in japan on friday and it resulted in a massive tsunami and then fears of a nuclear spill a radiation spill there the radiation now there is reportedly one thousand times more than normal levels people have been asked to take precautions they've been asked to wear masks our reporter in tokyo has said that they were asked to stay indoors as much as they can to avoid any contamination and those within the immediate vicinity have been evacuated now we're just getting some news just on that the tsunami we know that japan has been experience has experienced a massive tsunami we're getting reports that a more

a tsunami is expected and people are asked to have been asked to evacuate to higher ground that's obvious come. from tokyo earlier we have heard that the government has confirmed the explosion at your fukushima nuclear power plant there ok. well let's get some expert opinion on the situation in japan from christoffersen mintz an associate professor at the international christian adversity in tokyo thank you very much for for joining us now what do you think caused the explosion we've been hearing reports that they were trying to keep the situation under control we have been monitoring recording system from your perspective i know we still need more information but what could have possibly caused that explosion. well it looks like this is caused by the cooling system for you and now when the earthquake occurred yesterday at about ten forty six the reactors immediately shut down but of course you can't shut down

the reactor instantly it has to keep cooling the reaction that's going on inside it so these reactors have backup generators which continue to pump water into that reactor unfortunately the backup generators which are equal generators at daiichi seem to fail after about an hour and they were running on emergency batteries while the military began moving in more equipment more like a cool equipment is our the crew and now it seems as though it's possible in the last couple of hours that has failed and the reactor material that is the uranium in the reactor has been exposed to the air. there have been reports that. and cesium both radioactive iodine and cesium have been detected around the reactor and that could indicate there's essentially no water left to prove this reaction and that could have caused the explosion. just to actually we've been at we've been

saying this since the government announced it the the fear of a possible meltdown and rain and storms it's in a separate times as possible what is not down. well i've heard you discuss the situation in comparison with sharon noble there is a slight difference in terms of the two different types of reactors and although the situation is quite dangerous it seems as though hopefully it will not be as serious as chernobyl. reactor is cooling entirely by water to a meltdown or simply when the nuclear materials cannot be cooled and the temperature rises in the containment area and the reactor materials themselves to the point at which they destroy the reactor that surrounds them of course these temperatures have to reach about five hundred degrees celsius for the metal and for

the uranium itself probably in the order of eight hundred to one thousand degrees celcius. the good news is that that in the daiichi reactor is sort of the daiichi reactor the one that has just exploded. big crew and is entirely water so and material venting into the atmosphere will likely just steam radioactive steam in the case of sharon noble the reactor was moderated by graphite and graphite holds the radiation and splits much further as dust and gas so. that was the significant problem with sharon over the the neutron moderator in the airplane not react it was different and the radiation could spread much further ok i will read this we are getting a report said that the roof of the reactor has now collapse now just to give us an idea for those of us have never seen a reactor when the roof of a reactor collapses what exactly does that mean does it mean that the whole

facility is breach of the core of the reactor there has has been breaches in danger or. not not necessarily and now you have to remember that at the daiichi site there are. i believe six active reactors all of which have shut down and again i don't know all the information but at the moment it appears as though reactor building number one is the site of the explosion now he says the oldest of the six reactors it was built in one thousand nine hundred nine so it suggests that the oldest structure on the site was also the weakest and that this explosion has possibly exposed the uranium in the reactor to air. but it doesn't mean that the situation is necessarily out of control as long as the government and military can supply crooning materials that is electrical power to

drive pressurized water into the reactor building. hopefully some of the venting can still be contained in other words if the roof has collapsed it could mean that some steam has escaped or it could mean that. it's situation is out of control and as the reactor core cools any water pumped into it will continue to turn into radioactive steam and vent into the atmosphere so so we don't know it could be quite a dangerous situation as you said the safety limit has been extended from ten kilometers to twenty kilometers people are being advised to stay in their homes and not drink water turn off their air conditioners so it sounds like the government is apparently go for a significant nuclear event he just said that people were asked to and not drink of water then what what are their options there you mean tap water is that's what we're seeing that's right that's right that suggests that the government is is is

taking precautions but it seems as though they're suggesting that as the radioactive steam which is venting from building number one. ghouls the atmosphere of course it's the it's night now as that steam condenses into liquid water will enter the water supply carrying. radioactive iodine and cesium isotope so with it which could contaminate people in the vicinity at the last report that radiation and see if he was approximately one thousand my procedure it said that is about as much radiation as a human body should explore in one year and that's being released every hour so it seems like the radiation levels in the vicinity of the reactor are quite high ok well given that that was the level at the moment just how dangerous is that it's just put it into the context of the health of

a person someone who is exposed to that kind of radiation in such a short period of time what are the damage to the health that actually that can come out of that. well the biological effects will depend on a number of factors of course. it is a measure of logical impact rather than. just nuclear energy so for example if you are a larger person you have a larger body mass absorbing that same amount of radiation i don't suggest that the most vulnerable people will be children and the elderly people with the smaller body mass or or more we could body. i believe that measure of one thousand might perceive or it's was quite close to the reactor so obviously the main concern is for emergency workers and firefighters and really terry in the area of people further away.