the twenty four hours a day this is r t coming to live from moscow top stories now this hour judges in the hague issued arrest warrants for libyan leader colonel gadhafi and two of the closest confidantes they're charged with ordering the killing of antique regime protesters in february. israel says its navy is gearing up to intercept the humanitarian aid flights have been heading for gaza backs away from previous threats to ban and airport journalists sailing with the armada. it's been confirmed fifteen people showed signs of radiation exposure japan's fukushima nuclear plant

last month and this is government checks are being met with anger and skepticism. but one man who says events are for shima shouldn't be called a disaster is john rich director general of the world nuclear association explains to r.t. so if you have an answer why he thinks nuclear energy is still one of the safest sources of power and getting safe abouts in our special interview next on r.t. . carrie it's great to have you with us today thank you so how much has an equal protection technology improved since its first reactor well the history of the nuclear age goes back more than a half century and enormous changes have taken place in that period of time i think

the remarkable thing about the history of nuclear energy is how safe it has been almost from the very beginning. when we go back and see the first reactors experimentally being built in the one nine hundred fifty s. we're looking at a very very new technology and now we've had some bumps along the way that is force for sure we had three mile island in america we had chernobyl in ukraine we just had fukushima. but there i think the remarkable thing about this technology which is producing so much of the world's electricity is how essentially it's safe it has begin been it does not emit any emissions into the into the global atmosphere and it has only on very very rare occasions harmed anyone and meanwhile we've had thousands hundreds of thousands even millions of fatalities from the extraction of fossil fuels from the surface of the earth and from the health consequences of carbon emissions so if you look at the history of nuclear technology you not only

see a very safe technology but you also see a relatively superior technology because it is essentially emissions free callus always wondering how case for a story that way so how can a dangerous or be profitable when you have to pay for storing the waste for thousands of years you know that the question of waste is i think the most fundamentally misunderstood aspect of nuclear energy most people say well nuclear energy might be ok seems to be pretty safe but you don't know what to do with the waste let me say something that may shock you the greatest comparative asset of nuclear power is its waste now why is this. in other major energy forms whether it be cold or natural gas or oil what you find is that the atmosphere or the global public atmosphere is being used as an enormous planetary waste dump all of those carbon particular it's all about carbon monoxide all of

that carbon dioxide is going in there right now we are admitting carbon dioxide at the rate of thirty billion tons a year which is eight hundred tons or seconds into the planetary atmosphere as an atmosphere it's very stop nuclear energy is producing a considerable proportion of the world's electricity one six while producing an amount of radioactive waste that sequent to the size of the fuel which becomes highly radioactive and then must be safely stored but the wonder of nuclear technology is that it can be managed it can be contained there is a relatively small amount of it and it can be very very safely stored in the immediate term when it comes out of the reactor and it kind of eventually be put in long term storage containers placed back into the earth in the geological repositories that are carefully selected and without any ultimate harm either to people or the environment how you sound like

a grassroots environmentalist what's your job right now how would you characterize it i think when bill make the credibility of the nuclear power industry well there are a lot of people think it's the greens versus nuclear and in fact in many green organizations anti-nuclear ism is one of the fundamental principles i'm in the nuclear power business precisely because i believe in the in my or environmental virtues of nuclear power i got into this business when president clinton assigned me to be the his ambassador to the united nations organizations that deal with nuclear energy and i was particularly concerned and focused on the question of nuclear proliferation and containing that and i did that work. for president clinton for eight years but in the process i got a real education about the positive side of nuclear the the electricity generation that nuclear could bring to the world without environmental consequences and it was on that basis that i decided to dedicate dedicate the remainder of my career to

promoting this clean energy technology apart from with natural gas while by any player energy is just natural gas coal natural gas produces a lot of waste it produces carbon dioxide emissions on a very very large scale these emissions come out of the burning of the natural gas and they come not in even more potent form they come out of the transmission of natural gas through long pipelines where the unburned gas leaks and small quantity but in the form of methane that is twenty times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide so the combination of burning natural gas and the leakage of unburned natural gas that comes through the truck transmission lines makes this a very very serious liability for in terms of global greenhouse gas concentrations and you know that but you're a sap powerhouse down in germany a solvent sustainable economy disagrees with you they want thinks out of their country and i leave that my snipe to the austrian foreign minister recently in very

extreme a crowd of happy to be nuclear free. and you said that it's actually to gain votes we say it was and democratic house so i was saying it was a sad it was an it's a sad result of democratic politics responding instantly and irrationally to some event halfway around the world to change the basic energy policy of europe's largest industrial economy it was certainly done according to democratic procedures but these democratic procedures produced as to democracy sometimes does a highly irrational result i'm an american i know that irrationality can come out of our political system i've seen it many times in my life and american do not. you see democracy does not produce great results and sometimes it produces silly results and we've just seen one and in germany pretty much focusing on what happened there i'm used to you keep telling me that it's all safe i don't keep telling you that it's all safe there was an accident look what happened i mean how

can how can nuclear power people future when it's still so incredibly dangerous for life well it's interesting that you would say that because we've just seen twenty four thousand japanese citizens killed by an earthquake and a tsunami. we've seen the media. frenzy in covering the accident at fukushima which has not made it had not been very responsible for a single radiation fatality we have twenty four thousand citizens having died from the earthquake and the tsunami we've had a mishap a serious mishap with the fukushima power plant that has yet to produce a single fatality and yet people are using the words the phrase nuclear disaster nuclear tragedy as something terribly harmful has occurred i'm in the at the beginning of the of the line when it comes to being unhappy about what happened at fukushima i think it was a tragedy in terms of the world's understanding of the essential safety of nuclear power i also think however that it might also be educational in the long term

because people have begun to focus on and as they begin to begin to focus even more clearly on the ultimate consequences of the regime and they will learn that there was relatively little damage done by this event and this was a worst case nuclear event after focusing on he said we need to go back and look at by there those trust shut down cooling systems can survive the worst case events we can imagine what do you mean by go back the japanese made a mistake. the fundamental mistake they made was deciding that the worst tsunami they might encounter would come at a certain height and that would be the worst case the nami that they would encounter and if they defended against that there there are backup cooling systems would be safe that was a mistake because they misjudged and the result was that they did not have waterproof backup cooling systems and because they did not have waterproof backup moving systems those were flooded and rendered inoperable now in one night is this

important how did this happen you have to think of nuclear energy as the equivalent of a racehorse that finishes running a race and then need to cool down here the reactors at fukushima when the earthquake began shutdown they became essentially helpless on purpose but they still needed some exteriors some extra money supply electricity supply to power cooling systems that would get them down from five percent of their overall heat level they'd been at one hundred percent they were already down to five they needed some extra cooling to get down to normal atmospheric and ambient temperatures. all nuclear power plants require that outside assistance after they have shut down and the japanese mistake resulted in those outside non-nuclear systems not being available so the great irony of what happened at fukushima is that it was the failure of non-nuclear support systems to be available after the shutdown that

resulted in this meltdown and you really believe everything that a nuclear operators tell you. i don't have to believe it we operate a system of tremendous transparency we have i.a.e.a. standards that are enforced by national nuclear regulatory about bodies all around the world which are independent bodies completely separate from the operators we have a world wide net. the work of nuclear operators who visit each other's power plants and write reports and analysis and criticism of each other so that they are all working to come up to the same standard of best practice there is a great deal of conversation inspection and analysis application of standards and judgment about whether people are hearing to standards that is going on on a daily basis throughout all of the four hundred thirty five power plants in the world the problem at fukushima was that they made

a mistake in reactor design not in reactor operations but in reactor design and what has happened now is that every nuclear regulatory authority in the world needs to go back and ask the question are all of the reactors under my supervision protected against worst case natural catastrophes like floods like tsunamis like earthquakes like plane crashes and about those questions are being asked right now i think they will result in some changes i don't think the changes are going to be terribly expensive i don't think they're going to take a long time to implement and i think that the the good of this is that with the world will have drawn a lesson from fukushima a nuclear safety will be even stronger in the aftermath thank you very much for the same team.

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top stories this hour on our t.v. judges in the hague issue arrest warrants for libya need a kind of afi and germany's closest confidantes they're charged with ordering the killing of anti regime protesters in february. israel says its navy is gearing up to intercept a humanitarian aid flotilla heading for gaza for backs away from previous threats the band and the four journalists a link with the amount. that's been confirmed fifteen people showed signs of radiation exposure near japan's because she'll a nuclear plant last month and it is government checks and being met with anger and skepticism. about with more news in fifteen minutes from now in the meantime let's

have the latest from the want to speak with kate. a lot of this was news and these are the headlines. the field narrows world number one caroline wozniacki and posed williams sisters go out and reassure rap about a street in the quarter finals legal that. was feel of approval you need to love the dean of finally signed a deal to keep the pair of russian national title between the sochi winter olympic . gold and gold twenty two year old valued slag will help p.g.a. championship become the gunks golf but maybe a female so we're all four majors the first tennis where world number one caroline wozniacki and both williams sisters all went crashing out in shock still fourth round of wimbledon for the finest marion bartoli seem to be the happiest woman at

the all england club ok for the best ok ok child yes a really williams the french woman survived a close second set tie break. two hours to celebrate a six three seven six victory. of course i'm extremely happy about id today considering playing in syria now i don't know how many times she wins there purdah you know she's extremely tough to beat so of course it's a great performance but tomorrow is another day so just so for me focus i'm not even too far ahead i think i did really well is being able to come. and play in windsor matches i'm. just really playing tough even today i lost but i was able to kind of hang in there and play tough and i can only get better and they can potentially be really scary because i am going to go up from here. now meanwhile playing buzzing out csail through her right exactly going strong you can see both of us the slovakian world number twenty off court back to clinch big stories set in

causing us to voting public. venus williams lost utah gary spent time at their own progress any repeat school last year called a final however former champion maria sharapova is safely through the world number six ran into some tough opposition early in her match against china's pinch why after the two thousand and four winner proved to triumph six four six to get to the set so she reaches the quarterfinals for the first time in five years. i feel like the man has definitely improved this year but i think that's because i played a lot of matches. that helps too i think a lot of it is also reaction in. getting ready for the next shot a plea instead of thinking it's over being prepared to hit another one another one and. just always but it doesn't come for me because.

she's the last remaining female russian compaction on the ball that fell to number four seed victoria azarenka that hot prospect because then you put the baskets out to tell me the passion check but it's about crushed money in effect right now and also spring is to be the lisicki german wild card which in her second quarter final in three years we can change this seven six six one. thing and then a pretty good job. you know it's it's never easy to come off. on center court and invent smaller chords but so you know for me i think it goes matches and wimbledon and i so wanted so. much and you know i mean i didn't what i had to know and i'm really looking forward to my next round. on the men's side long after standing me tell you she has become the first man to take a set of six time time here not to further up the reigning champion rockefeller's are his fucking against. australia one of them so you know that drop

a bit of cruised past franklin michael llodra but also our local favorite as two time sonny finalist andy murray was given a standing ovation by prince william. yes that's the last thing on the team so it's great so it will be found. in seven six six three six two. and elsewhere that battled back from two sets and if you crash the water after facing two match points in the third set tiebreaker sensi. madi fish upset last year's runner up thomas verdict in straight sets. struggling against tsonga while the first player in the men's draw to win through to the last night was fast rising australian time with a teenage qualifier dispatched belgium having a very nice six one seven five six four after also beating robin so doing in the previous round. two different means i mean. much are in play but i was

playing for a big sport. you know in one. way which is immense but that i was a was a really really want to. play for well i played well for. football and dozens of people were injured in clashes between river plate fans and police in what is ariz after argentina's biggest club are relegated for the first time in their history more than sixty thousand people watched the playoff game at river plate's home ground the study on one in montreal where riot police stance disperse the crowd with water cannons is a place called breaking one one draw against second tier side belgrano but nothing you could call the tension as the right spilled out of the stadium things turned ugly on the streets of the argentinian capital where the plates were a record thirty three time national champions and got out of the top flight for the first time in a hundred ten years they did take an early lead in that vital much money on a pub only putting one up just five minutes in the second half equaliser by yamaha

they were the same types the same side the survival of the trend from zero to zero after seeing the slight saving penalty tonight. i saw in our russia's national team have officially signs then you coach opposition to lobbying at the north prepended paper to guide the red machines freeze the sochi winter olympics in twenty fourteen and thirty six year old now has to pick his assistant coach are saying he has chosen the goalkeeping trying out that with his ninth day of takes up a national role after leaving boston three russian titles in seven years is the congress most successful club coach with the top flight plans to his name he also how it will help the eleven months six years ago and has received in bloom going back. i think you are going ok if you want to go out of their genitals seraphic your work and the children who are about to go do a lot of pittsburgh's so i think for good for our team the rocket. while in the

other ball of ice hockey russia's brand new sled hockey team has been given a major boost ahead of their maiden paralympic appearance at such in three years time after the country's paralympic committee netted a couple of big sponsorship deals ahead of the games russia held their first ever national championships then sledge hockey just two years ago and have never entered power in the tournament sledge hockey was introduced into the games and in one thousand nine hundred four the united states norway canada and sweden are the big four in a sport that is thinking russia wants to make an impact on the games chief organizer dmitri trenin shango noted mobile operator megaphone which just press the button. will be the digital combine you legally can see for yourself the two big companies to market leaders have become partners of the current big movement if taken over the responsibility of helping the games community and the sports federations to prepare our future champions when you see a hugely beneficial change in attitude. now from

a world number one tennis player grand slam champion any catholic golf has been crowned freshest both champion at the national championships in the moscow region cousins in pursuit of reports on the story of one man who tried in two different sports. the twenty national tournament tweedle down in history as one of the most interesting so far in the world in sudan there was a first ever hole in one way money that i counted on the second day but there was no surprise in the overall can petition where my channel is still the biggest name in russia the twenty five year old germany did on the greens from the very beginning showing solidly however the first russian to achieve full time membership on the leaders european tour did give her opponents if you chances on the final day but her lead proved to be too comfortable and that china has secured her third russian title to the first three days of play really good and you know alice. like

whole. day after bad just like. internationals hard for me and. meanwhile the men's can petition turned out to be a real cracker the two favorite who took a little bored half way through the tournament were disqualified from moving distance markers and the fate of the russian girl of kong was to be decided on the clues in the stick from are. part of the next day i went in the room you are about just heard about and we just want to do. this kind of situation for. us and incredibly for mcinnis world number one in tea time grand slam winner you gain you can actually go and look it up a little bored to grip his first professional title the thirty seven year old was trailing by aides through ups they had a live final day that lead and found his perfect touch to produce an impressive

last round which included six birdies in just one bogey and this by a pretty modest finish of fifteen over by billy tennis champion is going to boost his golf skills put. into minus sixteen. i didn't expect to win and was a real surprise for me i'm very satisfied with my score in the last round second just five under par i love golf and will continue praying and it would be great if i could take part in the olympics in two different sports with the growing popularity of golf in russia championships like this and results like company gives other best way of encouraging those interested in the sport to pick up a golf club because they are. staying on the greens and they knew the crowned u.s. open champion rory mcilroy looks like the game's once a kid to you the best sort for jani saying she's also just twenty two but has now won all four majors on the ladies tour to become the youngest ever player both male and female to pull off the pace so when he's well the one who's just out of the l. from the g.a.a. championship to her collection what

a victory it was as she came to eights title on the tour by a staggering ten strikes and also produces some final round six hundred sixty six engine lighting on the overall to match the record low score absolutely these major . and that's why the sports news and i'm. sure is the same i think there is i think the media would like to hear the real treat be here early in its meeting with destiny the greek government survives a hold of competence as its crushing debt ordeal continues unabated.

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all comes. down to your fictional auntie allocation you on the phone i pod touch from the substance.