. >>> nhk world's miho fukunaga is covering the story for us now. miho, many people in japan are concerned they will face electricity shortages if all the reactors go offline. how essential is nuclear power to the country's energy portfolio? >> well, before last year's accident at fukushima daiichi, 37 of 54 reactors were operating. they supplied about 30% of their electricity demand. after the fukushima accident, reactors that went offline for regular maintenance stayed offline. nuclear companies compensated by shifting to thermal energy, but there were concerns about a shortfall so the government asked businesses and households to conserve energy. >> translator: i didn't use air conditioning last summer, so i'm not worried about this year. >> conservation proved effective, but when folks have to make a lot of adjustments to their schedule to save power. >> translator: blackouts are crucial issues for our business. we cannot let them happen. >> the authorities need to import more fossil fuels to run thermal plants. they're planning to raise electric

. >> miho fukunaga there. >>> japanese scientists will study the impact of the earthquake. the japan agency will dispatch a deep sea drilling vessel on sunday. researchers from jamstak and kyoto university will be on board. they'll examine the seabed 220 kilometers off the peninsula in miyagi prefecture. the plate in the area moved 50 meters when the quake occurred. >> translator: we'd like to study how the plate moved so much and how the tsunami occurred. we want to learn lessons for the future. >> researchers will lower the drill 7,000 meters below the surface of the ocean and then dig 1,000 meters into the japan trench. they will collect rock samples from the seabed. they'll also gauge the temperature to calculate the energy generated from the sliding plates. >>> japanese engineers are looking toward the moon 40 years after the u.s. apollo space program came to an end. they want to explore its surface. robots could be the key. >> reporter: for a robot, it's a long way from the sand dunes of hamamatzu to the surface of the moon. but recent tests represent a first small st