on the. tonight's meltdown fears at the fukushima nuclear power plant in japan grow after water levels drop leaving fuel rods exposed for several hours. human cost of the devastation in japan is being felt too with almost two thousand people confirmed dead following friday's make of quake and tsunami rescue teams from countries including russia are helping with the search for an estimated fifteen thousand still missing. and in other news because there are fees force is seemingly regaining ground in the east of libya concerns grow over what's next if the leader condemned by the global community takes over the country once again.

hello very good evening from moscow it's just after nine pm here in our money kevin and in one story dominating our coverage threats of a meltdown at the fukushima power plant in japan rising tonight after water levels drop significantly exposing fuel rods and increasing fears of a radiation spread now that news follows a blast of a third reactor at the site which injured eleven people radiation levels are reported to be increasing up to one hundred sixty people could have been exposed to radiation since the first explosion hit the city in northeastern japan and south of the engineers have been trying to use c. water to cool the reactors at the complex to avert a catastrophic nuclear meltdown the events were triggered by friday's mega quake which was then followed by

a giant tsunami almost two thousand. dead that number is expected to rise dramatically with at least fifty thousand still missing parties are planets in sendai forests one of the towns worst affected by the huge waves. another reactor at the fukushima power plant number one reactor is now in danger of overheating it's lost its cooling mechanism which is crucial to stopping nuclear meltdown and what this means it could lead to overheating and another explosion similar to the two other plants we've already seen at that plant could happen now what they're doing to try and prevent that is by pouring on scene water into the reactor to try and cool it down and that's what they did to the other two plants unfortunately that didn't prevent any explosion however the explosion a did happen earlier today according to the government the vessel the nuclear reactor that holds the radioactive material is still intact which is crucial to

preventing a major nuclear catastrophe however eleven people were injured in that explosion happened on that electric power company they say the radiation levels are within the legal limits in fact significantly lower levels a warning needs species on top of that they are evacuated a huge area twenty films as radius. around than you could count on it. and two hundred twenty thousand people have been evacuated to safety however six hundred people still remain in the area they want to be accurate quick enough so they've been told to stay inside so it's not be exposed to any radiation we know also that the radiation has leaked out more thought are afield and that according to the new york times and reuters a u.s. aircraft carrier off the japanese coast hundred sixty comes into the pacific ocean . with a geiger counter they should in

a cloud of smoke that radiation was above the normal levels. standing on cruise crewmembers received radiation it was all about the same as they would do normally in a month they're above normal or not at a critical level they panic being shown by people lining up outside supermarkets one key we saw at the main sea from arkansas in the center of town was a coal mine for a long that's no exaggeration people have been queuing up overnight to try and stock up on food so people are obviously concerned potentially the radiation line i mean have to stay inside or another quake could lead to food shortages already there are food sources in town and in this whole prefecture in fact. where we met and of trouble seventy kilometers the stock up on food and right now several of the food shops are limiting people to five items maximum and having to queue up hours

it's time to get into the stock so obviously there is some level of panic people on showing it on the surface but they're definitely concerned to be so much so that they're stocking up on food and also fuel our way here yet last night we saw a long queue of cars again about a car kilometer long outside one of the few petrol stations that were they were open in the fukushima prefecture. and there only being limited to twenty or at least to each of petrol the authorities the army troops and police ok police even as well lining the streets and going to the coast beheading people up there bank people can't make their way we were trying to get read the film pictures of the the devastation caused by the tsunami three days ago and every sort of two hundred meters or so that there are police telling diverting asking us to take a back but the damage is absolutely complete. you don't get

a real feel for it until you actually meet until you actually get to the case it's worth area. the tsunami completely wiped out everything in it was very clear and came in reached. out to nine minutes fallen here craig been incredible for here's what three buildings there are cars floating in what appears to be an inlet and. it's absolutely everything fully understand invent fully realize the power of the must. we will be until you actually see the sticks and then we saw people say sitting through what remains of what was best they were a boat as well and beach. being washed up seven kilometers inland so clearly the damage is good in the past but inland. there are a few buildings damaged in the sense of the city pete things seem pretty much.

normal or in terms of infrastructure is now i can see on the road they're starting to run their operations the trains are still not out of feeds as aftershocks and attention of the tsunami. i have a burning in sendai for us let's speak now to john large is needed presently consultant joining us on the line from london this large leaving to do so to bloody russia today and in another reactor we're hearing that the cause been partially exposed to the air as a possibility it is saying there are four of meltdowns in all three reactors that are having trouble at the moment what are the implications of this. well first of all i should say there's a probability of a knob or explosion because these are identical reactors under identical circumstances so we should look towards another explosion of the center of the two we've seen already but the consequences are difficult to predict to the moment because the japanese government is being so quiet and not releasing information but

really that's quite in contrast to its actions we've seen the evacuation zone around the reactors at this plant expanded from free to ten to twenty kilometers we've seen extraordinary actions are taken to try and closer plotting seawater in front of all as they are they just really written these plants off that's a total bill including cleanup of about sixteen billion u.s. dollars equipment and of course importantly what we're seeing now is within the u.s. battle aircraft carrier ronald reagan chief picking up protection protecting radioactivity going to remember the battlecruisers are there ready to go into nuclear war so there is anyone going to pick up radiation they will do their running their helicopters to and fro those helicopter engines are probably becoming quite heavily contaminated amount of air that they suck in so to pretty dire situation develop is so absurd john let's cut to the chase and i swear actually there it's difficult to know exactly what's happening where not however we've been

hearing the news from the authorities over the past couple of days and things aren't too bad then there's another problem then they say things aren't so bad they're under control it does seem to be going as you saying from bad to worse and you're also intimating maybe the authorities aren't being quite truthful and straightforward about the severity of the problem there why would that be. well let's put it this way than not i'm certain that they're not been they're not being prudent with the truth look the public perception of all things nuclear of radiation is a fate worse than death and often you see in incidents like this but smaller incidents the operators of the plant in the government's plan tend to play it down in compensation after we saw such a noble the old soviet system couldn't admit to the scale of the severity of the chernobyl accident which was known from very day one but surely things are moving on from those days and there are no apparently not i mean one of the problems that the japanese will be faced with is there an urgency services are limited all you

can do in the aftermath of a nuclear incident is to try and shelter and evacuate the public if you don't have the emergency resources if your infrastructure has been destroyed and the further you go away from the reactor the more difficult the more diverse the population settlements are the more difficult it is to evacuate you don't want to panic the public to get them to self evacuated and maybe unwittingly put themselves in harm's way so let's why you get the suppression of information from the government from the official organs before they can actually about your i would imagine this the near of cover up to be killed off slowly over the next day or so and then we get to the real for you mentioned that american naval ship out there hundred kilometers off the coast they picked up some radioactivity and some of the servicemen aboard there you're the expert i'm not what does that mean it must mean therefore that there has been quite a radioactive released yet. well i would say that there are those shockwave to particular on the second reactor the second reactor was actually fueled with what's called a petroleum fuel which has

a much stronger rate logical impact on people exposed what we see here is the wind changes world initially the wind with running to the northeast now it's strong around thirty three and the real fear is that the wind would wind direction will swing right around through the cell i run into tokyo that is a real problem you know when we talk about your partner nuclear we perceive the countries that are the most technologically advanced nations ever why is it so hard for them to get these plants under control or is it just really been a huge chain of bad luck all the way along the line for them too much to cope with this this is the challenge of nuclear technology i mean what we do in design in how these owners of nuclear plants and i did this myself you do a balance for the public you uganda war against a really bad accident against the plant operating correctly in other words you assume that the the unsinkable ship will never sink because the titanic sank and it's that sort of gandy and if you get that wrong then you have sort of guard these

are so briefly what we've seen here is this the worst case scenario i have rethink they ever needed in backup was kind of the wrong absolutely and it looks as though it's creeping in towards a radiological disaster pipe gone largely dependent local softeners so that doesn't happen thanks for being on the line with us and i've learned the most appreciated thank you know russia says it will increase energy supplies to japan following the crisis at the fukushima power plant prime minister vladimir putin's of ready order next to shipments of gas while asserting that the situation in japan won't affect russia's plans to develop its nuclear energy. we are not going to change our plans for developing nuclear energy but we'll schools are monitoring and making conclusions from the situation in japan are specialists are in close contact with their colleagues in japan. emergency services remain on high alert in russia's far east meantime a region very close to northern japan and they say that the danger of

a possible radioactive cloud reaching the area is minimal because at the moment anyway the wind is expected to blow towards the pacific ocean but despite that some tourists and foreign workers are said to be leaving the area our correspondent catherine mcgrath has more from the south korean region it's less than one hundred kilometers north of june. the emergences ministry say they have reinforced checks of the radiation levels here and say that as of now they stand at last than the average for this area but not residents out this region choose to leave we had seen people sitting on their backs today early morning the lobby of the hotel and they were desperate to get the the first flight they could leave to moscow and other cities are rushing this for the locals here most of them trying not to panic and to run about their businesses as usual and they also say that features they are now seeing in japan look so familiar so what they had been through several years ago.

this is how the trust looks like you can hardly see the needle tracing the way for him as a card to mourn it or a father is listening for every beat but things can change quickly. in the real time a new earthquake is here in japan this is the wave trace it's strong it has a magnitude of six point five. this is what an earthquake of magnitude nine translates into. your eleven is not new to quakes has been running these say sneak station in russia's far is over twenty years now but even for him friday is advance came as a painful and vivid reminder he and his old friend survived an earthquake of similar intensity in the nine hundred ninety five they don't need t.v.

reports to know what the people of japan are experiencing now. it was a strange sense of vertigo ceilings were caving in the first thing i did a rush to my daughters i grabbed the older one while my wife took our newborn rushed into the street thank god we're live on the first floor. you re too was lucky to back here quickly but dozens of their friends were buried alive thanks. to the incentive to go several locals were in a car with us we arrived and there was nothing attorneys no longer women start hauling in their fists and can say a word or used to be streets with houses have been turned into just awful if you will then have to go risk earthquake was russia's most destructive in a hundred years over two thousand people die at the town was never a built but the sea snake station was real it was shut down shortly after the

collapse of the soviet union and yuri was left without charge but the earthquake changed all that not only was the station reinstated dozens of new ones had been built these time small school calls you read several times a day. we're always on it hopefully barely there and america's stations was the first to report the earthquake or so quickly felt insecure leaners this is the closest part of russia to japan and while a tsunami threat has receded there is no relief for the people here with the danger now one of nuclear catastrophe everyone here understands that in the worst case scenario it will take a radioactive cloud less than an hour to reach the coast of russia exceeding the gretsch of r r t from the region thanks for the picture richard addict as we call forward very good evening to serve as a governor of pennsylvania nine hundred seventy eight and of course at that time to

deal with a partial meltdown at three mile island nuclear plant we really appreciate you being on the program. that was the most significant nuclear energy disaster of course on the totally of the united states to date. you have to manage that. to a certain extent it resembles to say what we're unfortunately seeing unfolding in japan doesn't i mean during the past three days we've seen a lot of conflicting reports from the japanese government based on your experience looking back it was dark days that you had to deal with you think that telling all story. well there there really isn't any similarity between the events. in russia with the fukushima daichi. difficulties and the three mile island accident in march of one thousand nine hundred seventy nine obviously three mile island we didn't have to deal with a record earthquake and the aftershocks and a massive tsunami but the problems the technical problems with regard to nuclear

power were pretty much the same and the goal was to bring the. damaged nuclear reactor to cold shut down and that involved a great deal of time and effort so i can sympathize it's very directly with those in japan who have that responsibility so what advice would you give the japanese authorities tonight. but i think the key thing is to determine precisely what the facts are we were terribly frustrated in the aftermath of the three mile island accident and not to be able to get a firm grip on the facts we would hear conflicting stories from different sources and some do triangulate those hansard to come up with something that's plausible the last thing we wanted to do was misinformed the public so we very carefully vetted all the facts that we tamed beginning on the first day when we were

misinformed ourselves by the utility that ran the unit two reactor at the three mile island so i made this very skeptical of them as a source and we began to develop new sources and really didn't solve the problem until the president of the united states jimmy carter at the time said of his personal representative harold denton who was a accomplished nuclear engineer but also could speak plain english and he developed a real facility and informing us in informing the public as to what was going on but in the end. we were very uneasy about our inability to get our arms around the facts so you know there are other cases of this i know it's too early to look at it but looking back i would think that it now looking back at the incident it did of the time it was strong and uniquely

a sentiment in the united states indeed we've seen some approaches even today do you think current events in japan will change attitudes to atomic energy. i don't think there's any question that this is not good news for those who are promoting an aggressive development of nuclear power. of late prior to this incident there had been a rethinking as i believe in our country and elsewhere of the viability of nuclear power. one reason is the. volatility of the world market for. oil the other is the misgivings about carbon emissions from fossil fuels that are suspected that play a part in the phenomenon of global warming none of that exists with regard to nuclear and therefore even some of the environmental critics who earlier were very reluctant about nuclear power have led grudging support to the recent increase in

interest in using nuclear power but i think that's in the past and they'll be a much more careful scrutinization of nuclear as a as a solution to our energy problem i'm looking specifically at japan the cost two pounds reliant for nuclear power to provide a third of it's great isn't it would you have something to say with hindsight isn't it now what would you have supported the construction of nuclear reactors in japan given that it's a country it comes to a risk of major earthquakes i guess the view has been so far you can't legislate for everything every problem. you know i'd be very reluctant to criticize decision makers without knowing more of the facts obviously if they proceeded. to build these plants without any consideration being given to the risks that would be a very crucial mistake on the other hand this earthquake was unprecedented in its

impact upon the japanese mainland and i'd have to know a lot more before i could cast any judgment about an unwise decision you can't obviously assure against every kind of natural disaster prudent steps have to be taken and i know in our country there's been a great deal of concern in earthquake prone areas to making sure that the site is amply protected against that threat but you can't always anticipate what's going to happen life is not risk free exactly that graphically shows i guess is the world becomes increasingly dependent on technology and saying what's happening in japan now that we're actually helpless in the face of natural events you just can't legislate against every problem yes. that's a very good point you're absolutely correct the former governor of pennsylvania pleasure to have in the program thank you. thank you but we'll bring you updates on

the situation in japan as well as expert opinion and analysis throughout the program of course and i let's take a look at some of the news today and say to libya there the strength of colonel gadhafi is offensive continues to overwhelm rebel forces across the country there's been reports of airstrikes by his military and he says france hosts talks on the imposition of a no fly zone over libya. is in tripoli she reports now on what's happening in one area where the battle is the filesystem. this fighting is continuing in the east of the country it is becoming increasingly more here that these men are making advantages with the ultimate destination of being ghazi in mind while the international community is meeting in paris the u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton is holding discussions with the leadership of the opposition here in libya they're expected to reach some decision of an international response to what is happening here in libya the question of the eight no fly zone and whether or not they'll give the green light to this but certainly

the feeling is growing that france has acted primitive already by recognizing the libyan opposition as the legitimate voice of this country particularly when you steve there could have his forces are making advances on the ground it raises questions in terms of if gadhafi had to remain in power how would france behave and in fact how the international community behaved this is an international community that has denounced him if go gadhafi had to go it also real concerns that there was a vacuum of power that would remain it is not clear in terms of the opposition who would come to the front you need to remember that the opposition are in the quote trained they not united and there are many questionable people within their ranks in fact the only unifying core we are hearing is from the opposition themselves and they are saying about a time the international community decides what it wants to do the situation here might already be over. ati's paula as i will bring you the latest news from japan throughout the evening or an article from a website that's. going to be team working on up to

a breakthrough that are. coming up in exactly five minutes time let's get across the business now though see how the economic side effects of the japanese disaster of wearing the. welcome to business art so good to have your company japan's economy is facing its biggest challenge since world war two after being hit by one of the biggest earthquakes in history while the country's infrastructure is seriously damaged the nation's and buster clusters in the south and the west seem to have been spared the worst japan's central bank injected the market with one hundred eighty three

billion dollars for additional liquidity by flooding the banking system with cash in hopes banks will continue lending money and meet the likely surge and demand for post. energy also remains a concern jutes of the crisis damaged nuclear plants north of tokyo which could set back all sectors of the economy meanwhile russia says it's ready to help japan with additional supplies of liquefied natural gas. and i mean look lou it's a. we're now looking at ways to support japan with additional energy supplies gazprom will deliver an additional two hundred thousand tons of liquefied natural gas in april in may we're now developing ways to increase supply capacity the difficulty is that most of the gas we currently deliver is already distributed through existing contracts so we will have to hold talks with our partners to review some of the contracts. chris we've also says despite the overall

damage energy shortages could extend economic setback across japan. but short term it's obviously going to be a very severe shock and you can see from the pictures there is clearly a lot of damage a lot of disruption of particularly the warnings of power shortages that but obviously extends the consequences across the broader part of the country and that's where the real effect will be people are sort of holding fire waiting to see what happens next particularly waiting to see if there's any follow up already for the revenge or a need to to ration of the nuclear power plants but in terms of the sequence well it is you know short term reaction will be very negative rebuilding and such a massive scale of course could then lead to a very strong boom afterwords. let's look at the stock markets first of all to asia to see their reactions to the situation in japan the nikkei closed down more than six percent on monday to close on a two year low as investors expected the earthquake and tsunami obviously take a toll on the economy japanese car makers electronics. and some of them saw their

share prices drop by double digit percentages but the reaction in hang in hang sang in hong kong was subdued as you can see there the index may actually manage to gain point four percent in the u.s. stocks trading in negative ground so this is on worries about japan's economy and global economy and also because of a pullback in utilities the biggest drop see in general electric that stock is down three percent the company resigned all six of the reactors at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant in japan. here in russia quite a different picture of the r.t.s. m i six managed to actually put some gains in monday's session l.c.s. up point eight percent of my six point four percent second look at the reasons why the drivers of the growth mainly energy shares not simply gas problem it's advanced wife three and a half to said its most to more than two weeks as the government asked the company to consider increasing liquefied natural gas shipments to japan north nichols also

up three percent to two talks about investors buying up still. there was a lot of pain because you know in japanese market in the morning when i was in the lot of. music movies actually throw this across the same graph in the world to see in. japan going up and down this in germany is going up and down as well said of the people he said to market and so the same happened in russia as well we've seen actually that they will go up and down the russian stock markets went up and down and the reason was that people didn't really know how to react because people didn't know what quite the expand the extent of the damage and what's going to be the consequences for they will be calling for the russian economy as well and vested interest have a lot of idea what to do really it wasn't much of a trend this really was a lot of volatility. right stay with us even airlines with cash. for the full slate we've got it for us have the biggest issues get a.