economists well after the break part two of our conversations with great minds the nuclear specialist robert l. . let's not forget that we had an apartheid regime right here in the. if you. want to. we haven't got so if we are safe ready for freedom. in the world. you know sometimes you see the story and the scene so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you see some other part of it and realized everything you saw. i'm sorry is a big issue. welcome back to conversations with great minds i'm joined by robert alvarez senior scholar at the institute of policy studies robert is an expert on nuclear energy policy having written for several publications such as science magazine technology review the washington post thanks for being with us robert thank. you so you made a point earlier that provoked a question in my mind you said these are podium rods into which the nuclear fuel was inserted both for the reactor and then later and it's up there in the in the waste ones or the spent fuel ponds could ignite create a fire that would blow the contents of the contain up into

robert gates says will there be no ground troops in libya. he answered questions about the united states' role in libya. he was not able to estimate the length of the military operations and how l it will proceed if moammar gadhafi does not step down but he emphasized the united states is scaling back their involvement there. >> the u.s. will provide capabilities that others can't provide in kind or in scale. there will be no american boots on the ground in libya. >> this morning, a senior libyan official announced he is resigning his post. this is the second resignation in gadhafi's regime in the last few areas. >> the groundwater underneath the reactor has 10,000 times radiation levels. the company doesn't believe drinking water is affected. contaminated water has been cooling at the damaged nuclear plant. radioactive water has already leak into the ocean. >> the government wants people to stop participating in a water recreational activity. it's called water walking. there is a risk of suffocation or even drowning in knees inflatable balls. they are concerned about too little oxygen in them. there is no emergency exit. the only way it can be opened is by a person on the outs

l-- legalists. then the dissenters in this cases were the four pragmatists. it is interesting to see how that plays out. chief justice robertsken the pragmatists seats formerly held by o'connor so that the pragmatists group remains. kennedy briar -- breyer -- what has happened is scalia has the gotrity is that he's still justice thomas who concurs in this case. >> on the same buses he has done in all these other ones. -- on the same basis. >> what he has lost is souter. he is replaced by a former prosecutor, justice sotomayor. this is the first time we have seen what may be a switch. thomas would have made it inevitable, but you see the first switch with the court moving and coming out with a pragmatic result partly as a result of sotomayor coming in for a suitor. >> you are absolutely right. one thing justice scalia said is when he said the one virtue -- he misnamed the virtue. it makes as easy to decide the way we like to. it makes it easy for it to come out the way we think is fair. that is what you're saying. >> let me turn to a different topic. it appears some stage are challenging the health care law. -- some states ar