hold. on. the situation critical of japan's stricken nuclear power plants with cooling systems failing in all six reactors and threats of a nuclear meltdown rising to the highest level since the explosions at the facility began. the signs of growing distress among the people of japan as fears rise the authorities are not telling the whole truth and the situation's getting out of control. that doesn't reduce panic it just makes people more uncertain he can't trust for the information. the death toll from friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami climbs to over three thousand with over seven thousand considered still

missing. and the nuclear drama unfolding in japan experts worldwide to question the overreliance on technology that often proves more dangerous than helpful. live from our studios here in central moscow this is r.t. with twenty four hours a day japanese officials confirm radioactive materials have leaked into the atmosphere following an explosion and fire at reactor number four at the fukushima power plant the fire was sort of damage an area used to store spent nuclear fuel with reports that start a struggling to cool it down the situation all six reactors are said to be critical after the only two remaining cooling systems failed following the devastating quake and tsunami at last at the facility number two which occurred this morning that reportedly damaged the vessel of the reactor engineers have been using seawater to

cool the reactors in an attempt to avert a nuclear disaster well it is i would bet it now reports from outside the danger zone there in japan. it seems like the whole time mission is gripped by the situation. that one's very nervous and it couldn't hear. that we're on the cusp of a nuclear catastrophe could kick in. and absolute disaster the end and no one really knows which way to turn because following a fourth explosion today over overall same explosion of the day before the explosion at the nuclear power plant they talked for hundred times that those things one would expect to receive in a year which is very critical and harmful level indeed so the situation is very tense it and all this follows the events of today which seem to have just gone from bad to worse two explosions this morning it two previously intact reactors and then two more the final two reactors of the six out of the machine power plant we're

hearing this evening now can't see a critical condition they had that have been explosions there but they have also had the cooling mechanisms knocked out that really can't cool down the reactors and that's what led to the first explosion first on saturday in one yesterday and the situation suddenly got a whole lot more critical when up a couple of notches with a second explosion today because that thought of reactor actually ours is a seven hundred eighty spent fuel rods all of which containing radioactive material normally a nuclear reactor actually contains around it if you're old so it was a lot more potential greater potential thought a much larger radiation leak in this project fears of a major nuclear catastrophe and potentially nuclear meltdown also fueled by. the prime minister's address to the emission telling people to stay indoors even as they're going to come in from the government now is even when your laundry indoors

because they don't want anyone going outside at all and it's pontiff or a news crews all the ones i've seen today head for the exits are now actually in the gutter which is on the west coast because we feel that this area is much safer to be in and also has. i mean a lot of distrust about the information coming out from. our company only that the regime and also the government not only months for a new script but also months presence here for a residence i've spoken to they they're also trying to get to the airport to get their first plane out of the country because they don't feel that the country is actually telling the truth they think that they really are lines and saying that. the situation is very bad and they think that iran is actually doesn't want to fuel panic but on the streets and now there is an it indeed what is our ballot there and dr robert jacobs from the russian apiece institut says judging by how the situation is unfolding it seems the government has little control over this nuclear crisis.

it certainly appears that we're not getting the full story in the sense that every day we are told that the situation is under control and that efforts are succeeding in reducing the risk yet every day we see the situation getting further and further out of control each day we wake here in japan to a much more grim situation then the day before and it's it's hard to imagine i think it's hard to give accurate information i think it's hard for the government to get accurate information but i think that there's a growing distrust among people in japan that the information that we're receiving is not informing us to the extent that we would like it and when it doesn't reduce panic it just makes people all the more uncertain when they believe they can't trust any information to be and yet i'm this intuition is very much difficult to control there's no doubt about it you're when you have a site there you've had four of explosions and significant radioactive releases at

the site of the reactors so you're having extremely high levels of radiation in that local area making it extremely difficult for people to conduct the kind of work that may be useful you had three aftershocks over seven to go on the richter scale and it difficult so in a sense what you have is you have people trying to repair an automobile damaged but that's moving at one hundred miles an hour without brakes or steering so the work that might be done that might be effective is getting increasingly problematic to reform. this is causing around the world and therefore you're in the affected areas you can always share your experiences by logging on to our facebook account and just into our t.v. news one word and our page also has the latest video analysis and news on the situation there in japan as one of the all our other top stories so if you know something that you think the rest of the world should hear about because to hear from you please log onto news on facebook. well higher

than normal levels of radiation have been detected in the japanese capital raising fears among the local population and of course one of is in tokyo. very decent levels. it would have been raised not significantly and. presenting immediate danger to residents of the japanese capital of course at the same or you have to remember that the levels of radiation at around the problems are such that thousands of people have already been. tens of thousands have been told to keep their doors and windows shut and not leave their holmes so at some point they were . radioactivity levels of just north of tokyo and have been about thirty three times the norm so that is the situation that we're looking at right now and of course the i.a.e.a. it's also saying that radiation levels are going to are going to.

rise in the near future as the radiation reaches tokyo so we're keeping close watch on what they're not we're going to have any further reaction from the japanese authorities. the need in the japanese capital of me actually rise as well we also know that you have more than one hundred thousand. have been released. and sent off to the areas affected most twenty five hundred people have been confirmed dead thousands are missing so the number is probably going to the number it's going to change in the next couple of days at this point of course the main concern is with possible over everything acting out a nuclear meltdown and that is what everybody is keeping a close eye on but of course the the rescue efforts are still continuing there of course trees various countries helping in that regard there's not that many people out in the streets it's very very quiet it's almost

a moral speeling you would imagine to be a city bursting with lights and activity there is hardly anybody out on the streets right now people that are out there all wearing face masks. also there have been reported also shortages of samples have been reported people are increasingly buying such things as water based products and they're. hearing off the sales but again they're doing it in a very orderly fashion and there is no panic obviously something is in the air so to speak and it's very decent probably here and prevention as people are still waiting for what's going to happen next. well for more on the situation in japan that's now talk to you he's a nuclear power expert of greenpeace in brussels thanks very much for joining us here on our to you know many experts rejecting fears of a possible nuclear disaster but we've already had three explosions and as many

reports of radiation reaching harmful levels what's your assessment of the situation from what you know so far. three explosions and the hydrogen fire in the spent fuel pool and trick specially that last one was. was the reason for the soaring. energy levels that we sold and afterwards. the situation at this moment remains critical it will remain critical several days. the operator is there and they have to work with and there's only fifty people allowed in the plans of the moms and they work in fifteen minutes shifts which is which is very little and they have to work very many things by hands because remote control installations have gone down the main operating room is not usable because of the radiation levels they're working under extremely difficult circumstances to try to prevent the worst from the worst we do it which would indeed be a core that is completely drawing and that would lead to

a meltdown given the shortage of cooling water and capacity that there is at the moment that chance is still is still existing and that will exist for several days to many people talking about meltdown what does that mean exactly what are the implications of a meltdown. in case of a meltdown what we would see would be a core that is completely dry so the fuel would be completely standing dry not being cooled any more heat that is still coming off and that is in the order of several megawatts still would make the core melt. falling down to the fuel would the fuel would come out of its it's a pipe so to speak it would fall down before there would be hydrogen producing in larger amounts which probably would cause. an explosion it's either would melt through the metal of the reactor vessel or it would explode through it in that case

in that case and it would get into the atmosphere right so this is an explosion of a radioactive material. what impact would such a catastrophe have not just in japan but when you're talking about a nasa amounts of radioactive material released into the atmosphere and indeed into the into the water into the sea what impact ecological impact could that have in a wider area in the asian pacific region and beyond. that is very difficult as we remember that we've had several of those accidents before and i are one hundred fifty seven chevy nine hundred eighty six we've had of course to nuclear bomb tests but all of these are very specific and also this is very specific it is very early now to predict what would happen because it really depends on how much of the material would get out it would depend on what the sea streams would be what the wind would be what is certain is that the spread of this material in the air would not go as far as that we've seen with be a reason for that is that it will not be boosted its high in the air because there

is no graphite in it like like in the in the chernobyl reactor that means that most of the sea would fall nearer to the nuclear power station and there it would create larger havoc that we've seen an indication of general bill also keep in mind that the surroundings of these nuclear power stations are a lot more densely habitate today than we then we have no indications chickenhawk so we haven't got a lot of time not your from greenpeace your stance on nuclear energy is pretty widely known you would prefer not to have nuclear energy what impact could this have been on the future of nuclear power not just in japan but around the world now . there was talk about a renaissance of nuclear power and i think this is going to be one of the factors that brings the reality to the people and the reality is that nuclear power is on its way out. there are less nuclear power stations coming online there are speech offline already for over a decade but nuclear power is safe in europe isn't it i mean europe doesn't face

anomalies new and earth quakes is it not safe and clean in europe. also we have earthquakes also we have the natural catastrophes and if there is one thing that we've learned from the japanese experience it is that if you are his pilot see earthquake as a natural disaster the last thing you want to see is you also have to spend part of your capacity preventing a nuclear catastrophe even look if you speak happens in bulgaria or real niña it also will have devastating effects on nuclear level and that is something that we would have to have to prepare and also in germany or in france those are also sites we have to various yann have a camp nuclear power expert a greenpeace joining us live there in brussels thanks for joining us on r.t. you're welcome. well in russian regions close to japan residents and emergency services are on high on earth this despite saying the danger of a possible radioactive cloud reaching the area is minimal as the wind is expected to blow towards the pacific ocean however some tourists and foreign workers are

leaving the area a correspondent catherine approach over is in the second region which is some one hundred kilometers north of japan. emergences officials for this region have in turn supplied chad spoke radiation levels here in the civilian region we talk to representatives of the ministry they showed us a car which they equipped with professional guide her meters which would measure radiation levels at different places around the city so the margin says ministry here assure us that as of tuesday morning there is no increase in radiation levels and there is no cause for the residents to plan conflict. in the worst case scenario local school. home there's no threat to the health of the suckling people gradation breeding certain normal level. meanwhile russia's defense ministry says that it is ready to send out its personnel from the pool islands any time soon this is the closest part of this region to north japan and also sales of io jeans have

rocketed in for mrs across the city obviously people want to make sure that they are well propounds in case if there is a radioactive emissions threat from what we know from people we've spoken to is that they are not quite sure whether japanese are playing down the through rats of a nuclear catastrophe or not planes heavey international apple or so of usual civilians because into the shuttle and for what we know there are no edition flights arranged people here indeed are not new to natural disasters such as tsunamis and earthquakes but with a nuclear threat in place it seems that they have to be prepared for the unknown and a lot depends on the wind it is very crucial so what people should be closely monitoring now is weather for cos it will take a radioactive cloud if there is an explosion inside a core of a nuclear reactor less than a day to reach this part of russia. well so far scientists say winds are blowing

from the east so the radiation will head to the pacific ocean you can go to what is twitter page to find out how the radioactive threats from the afflicted reactors is likely to spread and see that austrian scientists have created an animated map of the radioactive cloud movement that could of course in the worst case scenario reach the u.s. west coast that's the latest there we can see there on twitter check out our account for the direct link that's our to underscore com. because expanding its aid to japan with the number of russian emergency workers involved in rescue operations expected to grow over the next few days countries also boosting its humanitarian aid and energy supplies peter oliver has more now from the russian capital. that's already russian rescue workers and aid workers on the ground in japan and the numbers are expected to increase over the next couple of days so to around one hundred eighty now these rescue workers and aid work is

what's ten day old part of this rescue team by the emergency crews here in russia what that means is that iraq could respond to that they're ready to go as soon as they hit the ground was also a team of nuclear physicists in russia's far east that are ready to go to fukushima should they be requested for any help that they could give there and it's not just this humanitarian aid but it's also this d.c. to muscle outpouring of support in russia for the japanese people over the weekend there were flowers being laid outside of the japanese embassy and did an act of solidarity between the two nations prime minister vladimir putin has invited the russia the japanese judo team to come over here to russia to train. well the situation in fukushima has caused many countries around the world to review their own nuclear programs now russia has said that then u.k. program will continue armed is safe though this was said by the russian foreign

minister said. he also said that not only was the russian nuclear program safe but that the bushehr nuclear power plant in iran which russia had built was also safe and able to withstand an earthquake. as for our cooperation with iran in construction of this bush new shoes we're following the high standards for safety he's going to satisfy the i.a.e.a. and the u.n. energy watch don't monitor the truth in time to solicit he is under the oversight of the agency that you guarantee to any technical safety but also protection to society which is pretty cool that well as the situation continues to worsen by the day he she that really brings into the foreground the realisation that that mankind . how much is money in control when it comes to technology and that technology being impacted appalled by the forces of nature that we can now here report from my

colleague alexia share speak is in ukraine. it was a frail experiment that led to history's biggest nuclear disaster in april nine hundred eighty six the chernobyl reactor exploded as a result of the wrong individuals being in the wrong place at the wrong time and. they had very poor knowledge of the physics of the reactor. in one wants to push but that's it the nothing of the reactor physics personal draw the reactor to a city that was out of control while the author it is clearly knew who to blame for the fallout even the soviet union stop scientists were at a loss as to what to do in the days the catastrophe unfolded. of a nuclear power station mission free this was something unseen before a nuclear power station with flames and smoke over it was a quarter of a century on history seems to be repeating in japan despite the orthorexic there of

having the situation on the ground trawl the fukushima nuclear power plant has already seen pick splosion and that's despite advancing to systems which the chernobyl reactor never had. the reaction was completely false he means. the reactor. the happening and this is very mixed. in. with the sea the decent. but such a situation is unfolding in one of the world's most technologically advanced countries has heightened the sense of alarm internationally but some experts say one should look into how the japanese have been dealing with nuclear physics to get clues as to their continuing difficulties in dealing with a disaster so the technology is decades old. the society the government the

regulators believe that the technology can be operated safely but there's a built in psychological complacency if you're operating something that's so inherently dangerous when you go to work every day you keep thinking about how dangerous that technology is that would be over time rather damaging psychologically so in other words they convince themselves that leaves mastered this technology and unfortunately with nuclear power there's no second chance the japanese nuclear drama is certainly not the first case of man's over reliance on cook knowledge you can be a dangerous friend and one mishandled can strike in disastrous fashion we have always seen this with these they call techno genic disasters you remember last year there was a massive oil spill in the gulf of mexico again you had a very competent famous company that seem to know what it was doing but they simply hadn't planned for conjuncture conditions that would create

a disaster so this is the human condition we simply enabled it seems to handle these technologies were probably not ready for them the nightmare that the chernobyl reactor became was eventually sealed off within the massive concrete sume called the circle forgets the catastrophe provided valuable lessons in how to deal with the reactor disaster but also stern warnings about the dangers of nuclear energy what new lessons will be learned and what implications they will have for nuclear technology the world nervously waits to see the next year russia ski. just ramon you can be on top of the developments there in japan with the twitter page and as further details emerge japanese police now say the number of confirmed dead has risen to over three thousand and the number of missing is going to climb to over seven thousand just remind you you can get an update on our twitter account

that's party of the school called. well that brings up the date for the moment here on screen. in the moments we have the latest from the world of business with dmitri stay with us live from moscow. and welcome to business artsy concerns about the state of japan's economy have been rising as the extent of the devastation becomes clear although the quake fury bypass japan's and dusty or heartland the shock waves have been felt throughout the business sector power supply is critical in the country firms like toshiba toyota. have had to stop production because with eleven pounds fifty four powers the asians out of action running out of energy car makers ship builders and technology companies worldwide are short of surprise after the disaster damage that will refineries is having a knock on effect with queues forming at petrol pumps. the future of nuclear power

is again under serious consideration following the events that have unfolded at one of japan's nuclear stations germany explodes to shut down seven for them things whereas other e.u. countries are looking at alternative energy sources but russia has stepped up its commitment to jointly develop a new nuclear power plant in belarus it was thought. that we were facing a crisis related to what is happening in japan which will certainly influence the global economy but we intend to go ahead with our plans to build a nuclear power plant and. the project we're going to develop the encompass the leaders and technological advancements. leading russian economists illegally of says global nuclear industry players will have to revise their safety standards in the wake of japan's turmoil. we will of course hear it could be a major reconsideration of sci fi and nuclear reactor safety in safe and i think most likely but there were are looking into it and those sorts of i think will be

most likely course not and since i think yes there may be an important on the market for fuel oil and gas it is actually reasonable like people talking about overall glows in dawn of all nuclear generation i think it's premature simply because there was a very large church which is very unlikely to happen in other periods of the. saving of the markets now we start with asia the massive sell off on the tokyo stock exchange continue on tuesday as investors were trying to guess just how bad loser plans major companies could be to get the nikkei closed just under ten and a half ten point six percent it's a third consecutive slump hong kong's hang seng track those losses close in the session down the same. u.s. markets are trading a low of one point six percent for the dow and the nasdaq on worries about the worsening situation in japan joining the global selloff general electric remains

the main loser the second day is down three point four percent together with toshiba which dropped sixteen percent and so here the company was one of the main contractors for the reactors of machinery. here in russia both the arctic and the my six also joined the global sell off on tuesday that's after a largely ignoring the japanese prices the previous day before disease lost more than one and a half percent and as usual losing ground on decreasing oil prices was near shedding two percent was banking shares were also down back leading the losses down two point two percent on the my sex is stronger however it's up one point one percent that's after russian metal holding italian best seller plans to buy shares in russia's largest nickel mining company. and that's all for now will be back in the less than one hour's time with an update bill is next with a recap of what's going on in japan that's after this short break.

down be official ante up location join a phone pod touch from the i q sampson. cianci life on the. video on demand on cheese minefield comes an r.s.s.

feeds now in the palm of your. questions on the call. for the full story we've got it from. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. wealthy british scientists. the title of the book.