municipalities that detect at least 50 becquerels in any of these items will be required to continue screening at least three samples a week. the government temporarily banned shipments of rice and vegetables over the last year in si fukushima. testing will be mandatory in these areas regardless of levels of cesium found in foodstuffs. >>> crews still have to remove piles of debris in communities all along the northeast coast. an nhk survey suggests a majority of people in japan would approve of debris being sent to incinerators in their neighborhoods. environment ministry officials estimate the debris produced by the earthquake and tsunami amounted to more than 22 million tons in the hardest-hit prefectures, iwate, miyagi, and fukushima. one year later workers have buried or burned only 6% of the total. government officials plan to dispose the debris from iwate and miyagi at facilities outside the region. nhk conducted a public opinion poll over the weekend. 57% of respondents said they would approve of their municipalities accepting the debris for disposal. 7% said they would not.

the newer maximum allowable levels will be 100 becquerels per kilogram. miyagi prefective and fisheries cooperatives are asking fisheries to voluntarily refrain from catching the fish. >>> officials in fukushima prefecture are set to pay cash to residents for the emotional distress caused by the accident. the payments will go to people in municipalities farther away from plant who are not eligible for full compensation from tepco. the officials say they'll pay about $2,400 each to pregnant women and children aged 18 and younger. those payments will cover people in the western part of the prefecture. they'll pay about $1,200 to expectant mothers and children in southern fukushima. tepco has promised to pay those people about $2,400 each. prefectural officials say they'll also pay about $480 to everyone else in western and southern fukushima. >>> japan has some of the world's most advanced measures for dealing with earthquakes and tsunamis. but last year's disaster exposed some major weaknesses. one was the failure to safely evacuate ships anchored in ports

revised standards will limit the amount of cesium in rice, vegetables and other food stuff to 100 becquerels per kilogram. that's one fifth the current limit. local governments are in charge of handling the spot inspections. municipalities that detect at least 50 becquerels in any of these items will be required to do the screening three times a week. the government temporarily banned the rice and vegetables over the last year in six prefectures in and around fukushima. test willing be mandatory in these areas regardless of levels of cesium found in food stuffs. >>> people cope with disasters in different ways. some pick themselves up and get on with their lives, others lose hope. nhk has been conducting regular surveys of the survivors since last year's earthquake. one indicator we are tracking is motivation levels. here's a trend we have seen for the past six months. 27% of survivors report higher motivation levels. 30% say their sense of purpose is fading. the data suggests the gap is widening between those who are getting back on their feet and those who are falling in to despair. >> one

"most crops read below 10 becquerels. actually measuring radiation we realize there are not so many reading high radiation so it's important to inspect and release information. then farmers can confidently ship their crops and customers can feel safe to buy them. i hope this kind of effort spreads." >> reporter: but this woman is not so sure. she channeled her worries into a nonprofit in fukushima city that sells produce she purchases from outside the regions. when a shipment comes in-- as these dry radishes did on the day we met-- she walks a few blocks to a testing center to ensure they are okay to eat. turns out these were harvested before the meltdown and most certainly safe so they were fine to put on the shelves. do you think it's not safe to buy food at a typical market right now? "i think food in the market is not safe," she said. if data is released to the public i would feel safe. i'm concerned because an inspecting system has not been established yet. that's why this woman shops for her children here. "i'm conc

they found 250 becquerels of strontium per liter of sea water. the workers are building a safety barrier along the ocean to contain such leaks. they dealt with a similar incident in december. >>> japanese scientists will soon begin drilling deep into the sea bed of northeastern japan. their goal is to discover the physical mechanisms behind the earthquake last march. researchers from the japan agency for marine earth science and technology or jamstec are leading the project. they'll be joined by scientists from kyoto university. the team will set off a board a deep sea drilling vessel on sunday to study an area 220 kilometers off the coast. the earthquake moved a tectonic plate in the area by 50 meters. >> translator: we want to study why the plate moved so much and triggered a big tsunami. >> scientists will lower the ship's drill 7,000 meters below the surface. then they'll dig 1,000 meters into the japan trench. and the team will collect rock samples from the sea bed. they'll also measure temperatures to estimate the energy generated by slidin