our cbs news correspondent bill whitaker is there. >> hello, bob. i'm in the offices of tbc television here in sendai city, one of the few places in the city to have power. this television station is now running off generator power. it took us 15 hours to get here from tokyo. this is a ride that usually takes about four to five hours. but most of the roads coming in to sendai have either been damaged or closed down by authorities. this is one of the hardest hit cities in all of the japan. tonight, outside, the night air is filled with the wail of sirens, of fire engines racing down to a massive fire by the port. a fire so big that it's turned the whole eastern sky into a bright orange red. when we got here earlier this afternoon, we saw people running to high ground. they had just had another aftershock and another warning of another tsunami. people here are very frightened and very skittish. and they have good reason to be. not only did they endure one of the worst earthquakes ever recorded here in japan, but people say it was 30 minutes after that

bill whitaker is in hard-hit sendai near the epicenter of the quake where it is already monday morning. bill, good morning to you. >> reporter: hello, russ. this is a cliche but here so fitting. this looks like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie, but sadly here it's all too real. sendai, the center of destruction from the earthquake and tsunami, is now the center of suffering and misery. the devastation is breathtaking, wreckage, debris, mud as far as the eye can see. the horror compounded by fires erupting everywhere. this is also the center of the nation's hope for survivors still being pulled from the muck. this woman trapped in a car for 20 hours. earlier, these preschool children and their teacher rescued from the water by soldiers, one by one. this is a nation of survivors. this may look like a lake, but it's actually a main thoroughfare through the city of sendai. people are walking and riding through here, as if lost. this man lost his wife. he is smiling because he just got word she might have ridden out the quake and the tsunami on an upper floor of the airport. he's off t

bill whitaker with a look back at taylor's life and legacy. >> reporter: in a star-struck age, she was the ultimate celebrity. and the ultimate survivor. >> i had addictions. i have had weight problems. i almost died a couple of times. i have been pronounced dead. i've read my own obituary. they were the best reviews i have ever had. >> reporter: they say that movie acting is all in the eyes. hers were violet in color. they suggested both passion and heartbreak. they made women green with envy. they made men absolutely crazy. she first went before the camera at age 10. she was born in london of well- to-do american parents, brought to hollywood just before world war ii. she grew up at mgm. >> poor lassie... >> reporter: 11 years old in "lassie come home," 12 in "national velvet. >> ." >> you think a race like this is won by luck? >> no. i by knowing that i can win and telling him so. >> reporter: at 18, she married on screen in father of the bride. and off screen, too. hotel heir nicky hilton was husband number one. >> my bride, myself are going to have a wonderful time in europe. >> r

more on that now from bill whitaker. >> reporter: the fallout from japan's worst nuclear accident is growing panic and suspicion the government and tepco, the tokyo electric power company are, not telling the whole truth. they established a 20-mile danger zone, but fear in japan has spread much father. "i think the government is trying to hide something," she says. "the prime minister and tepco say we are fine, but things keep happening that say we aren't fine." tokyo airports are crowded with the growing number of people taking flight. jim stevens is going home to iowa. >> we haven't... aren't aware of any communications from the japanese government. >> reporter: tepco, established in 1951, just six years after the nuclear blast that ended world war ii, is the fourth largest electric company in the world. it operates 17 nuclear reactors and often finds itself in hot water. in 2002, top executives resigned in disgrace when tepco was found to have falsified reports and concealed accidents at nuclear plants 200 times over 25 years. industry watchdogs say it's wise to be skeptical. "tep

our bill whitaker is driving today from tokyo to the hard-hit city of sendai. the 230-mile trip usually takes four or five hours but not this time, with destruction at every turn. >> reporter: with an international effort under way to rescue survivors from the rubble of this devastating earthquake, the japanese government is facing a massive problem-- how to get to the survivors. entire towns and villages have been swept away. in the tsunami zone there is no electricity, no telephone service. at least one million people are without water. the transportation ministry said most highways from tokyo to the quake zone are closed. many roads are cracked or split or clogged with cars from the estimated 300,000 people trying to evacuate the tsunami zone. that makes delivering aid to the hundreds of thousands trapped in temporary shelters nearly impossible and with cell phone service spotty, the situation in many areas remains a mystery. at the epicenter in sendai, the tsunami washed out the airport where planes on the tarmac are mired in mud. rescue worker workers are

>> couric: bill whitaker, bill, thanks very much. james acton with the carnegie endowment for international peace is a physicist and expert on nuclear safety. james, do you think the high levels of radiation found in the turbine room outside reactor three means the steel container enclosing the core has been damaged? >> good evening katie. the answer to that is at the moment i don't know. but we have been receiving evidence all day and i would say that the location of where the water is, the fact that the pressure vessel is reported to be holding pressure, the fact that radiation on the site has been fluctuating but not rising all suggest to me that on balance it is more likely that the leak has occurred from somewhere else other than the reactor pressure vessel. but it's not clear. >> couric: the japanese government, meanwhile, is now encouraging evacuations in a wider area than originally proposed, as we have just heard. should people were closer than that 19-mile radius be worried now? >> you know, i think as a matter of fact they

bill whitaker, cbs news, tokyo. >>> paralyzedded while giving birth, then divorced then kept away from her children after it happened. now her family is going to court. why this case could rewrite history for parental visitation. >>> the perjury trial played out more like a science lesson today. signs that someone is using steroids. and how an expert says they match up to barry bonds. >>> and spring 2011 is not at all too early to think about fall 2012. the three joes and a lady are in the bay area tonight working to unseat president obama. [ female announcer ] what's so great about jcp cash? no exclusions! with jcp cash, earn ten dollars off when you spend just twenty five storewide. and, unlike other stores, we don't make you come back to save. get ten dollars off with no exclusions! we make it affordable, you make it yours! jcpenney. with jcp cash, earn ten dollars off when you spend just twenty five storewide. and, unlike other stores, we don't make you come back to save. get ten dollars off with no exclusions! we make it affordable, you make it yours! jcpenney. the destructive del

>> couric: bill whitaker in tokyo, bill, thank you. and now to the worries over contaminated food. the u.s., china, south korea, and india have all stepped up their inspections of food exported by japan. italy has banned them all together. at stake for japan, an export market worth $5 billion a year. here's lucy craft. >> reporter: at this dairy farm here in chih be 20 miles east of tokyo there's a real fear that the cash will soon go out of their cows. though they are 150 miles from the radiation source, dairy officials here are concerned about recent reports of abnormal radiation levels detected in milk near fukushima. "since we grow the same food as fukushima" says this a.g. official "we're afraid of being tainted by association." some spinach samples south of fukushima tested more than seven times the illegal allowance of radioactive iodine. sea water near the plant has tested 126 times higher than the legal limit and people are warned not to drink tap water. outside of the 20-mile danger zone, japanese radiation experts say right now their food is safe. this analyst says "ther

bill whitaker, cbs news, tokyo. >>> now to the revolt in libya. countries wanting a no-fly zone to try and corral moammar gadhafi's air force want the u.n. security council to vote on the resolution today. libyan planes and troops are pounding the rebel-held town of ajdabiya. only pockets of rebel resistance remain and it is reported that gadhafi has given orders to kill whoever is found in the city. if ajdabiya falls they have a clear path to benghazi. >>> "the new york times" says four of its journalists covering the revolt in libya are missing. they were last heard from tuesday as they were covering the battle at ajdabiya. libyan officials say they're trying to locate the journalists. there are unconfirmed reports that they're being held by pro-gadhafi forces. >>> the american cia contractor charged with murder in pakistan is in afghanistan, where he is being debriefed by u.s. officials according to the associated press. raymond davis was released yesterday, after pakistan paid $2.3 million in so-called blood money to the families of the two me

>> couric: bill whitaker reporting from sendai, japan tonight, bill, thank you. outside sendai along the coast, many smaller towns and villages exist now in name only. ben tracy shows us how natori, once a thriving farming town, has been turned into a wasteland. >> reporter: more than three days now after the earthquake hit and the tsunami roared through natori city, the homes are still smoldering and this is basically all that is left of this town that was once home to about 74,000 people, many of them farmers. now it's basically deserted. emergency vehicles are the only traffic on the roads and this man is one of the only people left in town. everyone else is gone because so are their homes. this used to be a neighborhood. now it's simply a debris field. these were houses. >> yes. >> reporter: now they're all gone. >> all gone. nothing. >> reporter: our driver used to take this street when he drove his family to the beach. he can't believe what's happened. >> the tsunami. >> reporter: then the tsunami came through. >> they cannot climb away to escape. >> report

>> couric: bill whitaker in tokyo tonight. and there are new questions tonight about safety procedures at nuclear plants right here in the u.s. a report from top federal regulators say safety guidelines for the nuclear industry are " contradictory and unclear." their investigation found at least 24 cases of possible equipment defects that went unreported. two safety reviews have already been ordered at the nation's 104 nuclear reactors. to another safety issue now. we told you the story last night, commercial jetliners approaching the airport in the nation's capital just after midnight ready to land and the air traffic controller can't be reached. today we learned what many suspected. the controller was asleep. bob orr reports it was a wakeup call for him and the f.a.a. >> reporter: moving to calm nervous flyers, the f.a.a. today suspended the air traffic controller who was working alone yet missing in action when two passenger jets landed at reagan national airport early wednesday. there's a professional pilot for more than 2

from tokyo, here's bill whitaker. >> reporter: tokyo mother of three tomoe ogino shows compassion for the refugees up north. now with the fallout hitting home, she feels fear. >> my concern is how long it's going to, this is going to take, you know, if it's going to finish at some point, if she can drink water. >> reporter: the fear is thyroid cancer, an infants fast growing thyroid absorbs much more of the radioactive iodine in the water than older children or adults. tomoe uses water to make formula for 4-month-old sayuki. it's got to be frightening. >> it is, it is. not only her, but i have two other kids. >> reporter: she could be speaking for most of tokyo, fear of radioactive water triggered a run on bottled water. you won't find uncontaminated water out there, they are all sold out, she says, one downtown store reportedly sold out an hour after the announcement. meanwhile, at the plant spewing the fallout in fear, one step forward, the lights in one control room went back on, but two steps back. reactor three was belching smoke and workers were evacuated again. today this first

bill whitaker, cbs news, sendai, japan. >> couric: nearly five days after the earthquake and tsunami the search for survivors is becoming a race against time and a continuing battle against nature with snow now in the forecast. more than 7,500 people are listed as missing while nearly 26,000 have been rescued. today an elderly woman was found alive in the northern of ichinomaki. ben tracy spent the day traveling west from sendai and is now in niigata. ben, many people have been waiting in lines trying to find out the fate of their relatives and friends. what has that been like? >> reporter: katie, in one of the towns we went to called ichinomake we saw a long line outside the red cross hospital that we assumed was people seeking medical attention but, in fact, they were actually waiting in line to go inside this tent where there were names on tables and on the walls. these were names of people who had been treated at the hospital people who were still alive but then also a list of people who had been confirmed dead. so they were basically there to see the fate of their relatives. we

bill whitaker, cbs news, laguna beach, california. >> couric: and that's the "cbs evening news."tie couric. good n but what made a teenager jump n gate bridge? >>> you're watching cbs5 eyewitness news in high- definition. "this broadcast realtime captioned by becky lyon." >> rolling up the windows. looked like he was trying it make it. >> and make it he did. but what made a teenager jump from the golden gate bridge. the school field trip that people will be talking about for a long time. >>> the water in one neighborhood is so bad tonight officials are warning people don't drink it. >> my skin is peeling in the palms of my hands. >> it is a cbs5 exclusive. >> i'm very upset about it. >>> and could it be a victory for all of those passionate smart meter opponents. the plan to let you opt out.

>> couric: bill whitaker in tokyo tonight. james acton with the carnegie endowment for international peace is a physicist and an expert on nuclear safety. james, japanese officials acknowledged what u.s. officials said yesterday, those spent fuel rods, more than 11,000 of them in rapidly evaporating pools are the real danger. why initially were there two different assessments of the situation? >> in many ways i think there probably are still two different assessments of the situation. there's no question that the evaporating fuel pools is serious. without all of that water as shielding, this site is going to become much more heavily irradiated and consequently harder to move around and work it. but i think there's a genuine disagreement here over the chances that without the cooling effect of water these fuel rods could ignite. and there's a disagreement over how risky that is compared to the consequences of a meltdown. >> couric: are helicopters and water hoses really the best solution to this crisis? >> probably yes is the a

>> smith: bill whitaker in tokyo tonight. thanks. the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami continues to rise. the official count tonight is nearly 7,000. more than 2,600 are injured and more than 10,000 are missing. meanwhile, britain's "guardian" newspaper reports 128 elderly people were discovered abandoned in a hospital six miles from the crippled nuclear plant. some were comatose and later 14 days. there are tens of thousands of americans in japan. lucy craft reports the u.s. government is offering to evacuate any of them who want to leave. >> reporter: the first flight from tokyo arrived in taiwan with fewer than 100 americans. sean kaiden left. not because of radiation fears, but because daily life has become too challenging. >> we had power outages for two days where i was, trains weren't running for three days. we had cell phones that were down. >> reporter: charter busses have also started picking up stranded americans in the northern japanese city of sendai. >> the bus will stay outside of the u.s. required 80 kilomet

bill whitaker reports. >> reporter: sendai is the center of destruction from the earthquake and tsunami the center of suffering and misery. the devastation is breathtaking. wreckage, debris, mud as far as the eye can see. the horror compounded by fires erupting everywhere. this woman, trapped in a car for 20 hours. earlier, this preschool children and their teacher rescued from the water by soldiers, one by one. this is a nation of survivors. this may look like a lake but it's actually a main thoroughfare through the city of sendai. people are walking and riding through here, as if lost. this man lost his wife. he's smiling because he just got word she might have ridden out the quake, and the tsunami on an upper floor of the airport. he's off to find her. this man's house is half-filled with muddy water. his business washed away. it's unbelievable, he says, i never experienced such an earthquake. few places in the world have experienced such an earthquake. first, the earth here shook. then was flooded. then the sky was ablaze from this massive fire at the port. tens of thousands are bei

jennifer ashton, thank you. >> we want to go back to the earthquake zone, check in with bill whitaker sendai, japan. bill give us an idea, what's the latest at this hour? >> hello, erica. one thing about an earthquake of this magnitude, once the initial shaking stops, it's still not over. because this city has been shaking and shaking all day today, with aftershocks. some of them have been quite strong. 6 and above on the richter scale. and it's got people here shaken, as well. and who could blame them? their lives have been turned upside down like these cars behind me. if you could take this camera and do a 360, you would say that it looks like this all around here. for miles and miles and miles. now, in fact there is a large portion of the city that did survive both the earthquake and the tsunami. but a suj swatch of this city, low-lying area close to the coast was virtually wiped off the map by this tsunami and this earthquake and it will take a long, long time for this city to get back on its feet. erica? >> bill, tough to imagine even where you begin with that cleanup as we look

>> bill whitaker in tokyo, thank you. >>> just ahead on the cbs evening news, what would a libya without qaddafi looks like? >> the violence in the middle east is spreading to syria, where demonstrators demanding reforms set fire today to a courthouse and offices of the ruling party. they were protesting friday's kill of of five activists by security forces. >>> voting freely for the first time in 50 years, egyptians overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments that could lead to early elections. the vote came following protests of ousting hosni mubarak last month. mubarak had ruled for 30 years. >>> the outcome of the allied attacks on libya is still unknown. joining us for perspective is nicholas burns. nick, good evening. >> good evening, russ. >> a couple of scenarios. what is muammar qaddafi is able to hang on? what happens next? >> if he hangs on, then we're looking at a protracted civil war between these parties, the qaddafi forces and the rebel forces. we have essentially intervened in the middle of the civil war. we have taken the side of the rebels. we took away the offens

bill whitaker takes a look bat at her life and lodge career. >> reporter: in a star struck age she was the ultimate celebrity. and the ultimate survivor. >> i have had addictions, weight problems, i almost died a couple of times. i have been pronounced dead. i read my own obituary. the best reviews i have ever had. >> reporter: they say movie acting is all in the eyes. hers were violent in color. they suggested both passion and heartbreak. they made women green with envy. they made men absolutely crazy. ♪ [ music ] >> reporter: she first went before the camera at age 10. she was born in london of well- to-do american parents brought to hollywood just before world war ii. she grew up at mgm. >> poor lassie. >> reporter: 11 years old in lassie come home. 12 in national velvet. >> a race like this is won by luck? >> no. by knowing that i can win and telling him so. >> reporter: at 18, she married on screen in father of the bride. and off screen too. hotel heir nicky hilton was husband number one. >> my bride and myself are going to have a wonderful time in europe. >> reporter: it lasted e

>> bill whitaker in tokyo, thanks. >>> we want to get more information now on what could be happening at this point. a very fluid situation. joining us from washington is nuclear expert james acton. good to have you back bus. when you hear the details we're getting and it sometimes feels like we're not getting the full story, what do you think is actually going on at that troubled plant? >> good morning, erica. the truth is we don't know what is going on at that troubled plant and i think officials are probably being honest when they say they don't know what the cause of this radiation leak is. what i think is significant is this highly radioactive water was found in a building that is actually adjacent, next door to the main reactor building and the concern is that if you're finding highly radioactive water next door to the main reactor building, which is not where it should be, then that leads to grave concern about what is actually going on inside the main reactor building itself. >> you're talking about that water, the water the workers walked through as they were laying cables? >

bill whitaker, cbs news, laguna beach, california. >>> coming up a little bit later on "the early showjapan on the earthquake, and tsunami disasters overnight. also an update on the flooding problems here in the east, as relentless rain forces rivers to overflow. and the latest on the charlie sheen saga. after police pay a visit to his home overnight. that's the "cbs morning news" for this friday. >>> your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. >>> well, the destruction is unbelievable. japan is reeling from a magnitude 8.9 earthquake that unleashed this 13-foot tsunami. and this morning, the entire west coast including here in the bay area is under a tsunami warning. good morning, it is friday, march 11, 2011. i'm elizabeth wenger. >> good morning, everybody. i'm frank mallicoat. the time is 4:30. and we begin with that breaking news. parts of the bay area right now have just been ordered to evacuate. people in the linda mar area, pacifica, are being told to leave immediately. >> that's right. el granada and low-lying areas west of highway 1 we are just being told are also being

and from bill whitaker and lucy craft we'll have the latest on the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in japan particularly the problems at the fukushima nuclear plant. after which we turn to our cover story, a closer look at the future of nuclear energy here in the united states. reported by martha teichner. >> couric: radiation continues to leak from damaged nuclear reactors. >> reporter: the horror at fukushima happened just when the united states was ready to commission its first nuclear power plants in more than 30 years. >> we can't sit back and be complacent and say, well, we're not them. no, we are. >> reporter: japan, a giant wake-up call for america's nuclear industry. but what kind? later this sunday morning. >> osgood: at times there are lessons that can be taken from the ashes of a disaster. michelle miller this morning has a case in point. >> reporter: 100 years ago this friday, march 25, 1911, america came face to face with tragedy. 146 people mostly young italian and jewish women and girls died that day, trapped in a burning factory or jumping to their deaths from the

on the ground will be reporting the latest on the aftermath all through the morning, including bill whitaker has been traveling through the worst of the stricken areas along with lucy craft and ben tracy in tokyo. >> reporter: the scale of the destruction and human misery is almost too much to comprehend. one of the most modern and technologically advance society on earth thrown back virtually to the stone age by the most powerful and unpredictable of natural forces. ahead this sunday morning we take a measure of the disaster in japan. >> osgood: then it's on to a new technology, a hand held technology with almost unlimited potential. in any sort of communication or information path you want, the chances are there's an app for that as daniel sieberg will be showing us. >> reporter: more than 11 billion apps were downloaded in 2010 and apps do seem to be everywhere these days, but app- planet? from navigating in your car to mapping the human body to exploring the stars, it seems there's an app for everything in the universe. but what's driving this app revolution and where does it go from her

>> cbs' bill whitaker in tokyo for us this morning. bill, thank you. >>> joining us newton, massachusetts, with more on the effort is professor matthew bunn, a nuclear expert at harvard's john f. kennedy school of government. good morning. >> good morning. >> we keep hearing about reactor 3 and it's continued problems. how far away are we from what bill just mentioned disaster measure of just entombing this thing? >> well, i think that idea is one that might happen in the long term, because the reality is we've got a lot of damaged spent fuel in the reactor cores and the spent fuel pools and deal with. but that's not something you can do in a matter of days. it's going to take months to bill such a tomb. right now the key priority is getting all of the fuel under water again. >> what can they possibly do to get this situation under control? because there are some bits of good news coming out of the nuclear plant this weekend, but reactor 3, with more smoke billowing from it today, seems >> indeed. this is a real remainder of what the ja

>> cbs' bill whitaker in tokyo, thank you. joining us from washington is nuclear expert james acton. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> up until now, the japanese have been basically throwing sea water on this reactors basically in the dark. but now that power has been restored, is it now going to become a little bit more obvious as to the full extent of the damage at this reactor? >> chris, the crucial moment is going to be when they find out whether or not the cooling pumps that are necessary to keep that core of the reactor cold are working. while they have been connecting the power, we have been asking ourselves exactly that question. because this is what is needed to really start getting this crisis under control is cooling and we're going to have to see whether or not the pumps are working. >> with all of the talk of restoring cooling power you look at reactor three, it looks, pardon the term, but it looks like it has been hit by a cruise missile. how do you contain that reactor? >> what we are seeing from the incr

cbs news correspondent bill whitaker has more from sendai. >> reporter: these cars aren't parked. they are waiting. and waiting. people here are lined up waiting for gasoline. the line wraps around the block. some of these people have been here for half a day. and they don't even know if the gas station is going to open or not. this man needs gas to go check on his parents. he slept in line. in sendai these days, people wait in line for everything. for gas, for water, for food. everything is being rationed now. these people wait hours in line to get into the store where they are limited to ten items per person. while the american military is helping japan with big things like restoring power, the japanese relief effort is distinctly japanese. food and support has come in from cities as far away on the west koes. the city of sendai opened 247 emergency shelters and housing and feeding more than 70,000 people. this shelter serves 1,500 meals each breakfast, lunch and dinner. the shelters are the new town square offering a place to find the missing. how many was this to begin with? s

cbs news correspondent bill whitaker is in tokyo this morning with more. bill, good evening where you are. >> hello, erica. it's one step forward and two steps backward in this nuclear crisis. just when workers think they're going to get a handle on things at that plant, more bad news. now, growing concern here in tokyo about spreading nuclear contamination. tap water at a tokyo purification site some 180 miles south of the crippled fukushima nuclear plant tested positive for radiation wednesday at levels twice the limit considered safe for infants. authorities warned parents not to let their babies drink the water. bottled water now is disappearing from store shelves. radiation already has contaminated vegetables and milk produced around the plant, and has seeped into seawater. the government has expanded the list of vegetables it advises residents to avoid, including spinach and lettuce grown in the area. some quake wary residents are ignoring the warning. i think it should be fine if i wash it properly before eating. if i can find spinach from a differen

cbs news correspondents bill whitaker is in tokyo with more on the situation there. good morning, bill. >> good morning, chris. >> reporter: the government says the tap water here is safe for babies to drink. the radiation level is low. the anxiety level remains high. the see saw of conflicting information has parents confused and concerned. well the run on water leaving store shelves empty, the tokyo city government started handing out almost 225,000 bottles of water to parents of infants 1 year and younger and 80,000 families in tokyo. at this ward a constant stream of mothers and infants flowed through to get free water. 12 bottles per child. these mothers are appreciative, but are you still worried? are you still afraid? yes, because this radiation is invisible. so after 20 or 30 years, what is going to happen to my baby's health, she asks. today's announcement that radioactive iodine in water had fallen back to safe levels did little to allay widespread alarm and anxiety. yesterday, the water is bad. but this morning, the water is okay? it's very difficult to bel

>> bill whitaker in tokyo. thank you very much. >>> so how are the latest attempts going to control this crisis? could more have been done sooner. joining us now is nuclear expert matthew bun in massachusetts. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> before we get into the nitty-gritty of what's going on at the plant, a lot of americans are waking up this morning hearing this news about radiation being in the food supply in japan and they're asking the question, could that eventually make its way here, despite what the u.s. government says. what do you think? >> i don't think there's any substantial risk from the radiation in the food in japan. japan is a very high-cost country for making food. and therefore, we don't buy any anything amount of food from japan that's grown in japan. we buy it from countries where it's, you know, cheaper to grow. so i don't think there's going to be any radiation in our food supply. the amount of radiation, even that has been detected in the food so far in japan, while it's abov

>> bill whitaker, thanks. >>> joining us in the studio is university of georgia professor cham dallas. good to have you with us. we have been talking about this, it's a week now. when you look at the situation and they are trying so desperately every day with what we're keeping told is a new last-ditch evident, how much longer can these efforts last? >> these people are in under a lot of pressure, particularly the ones in the control room. the 50 people that we have been talking about so much. they are going to keep going. i mean, you would think they would get worn out, but they are still rolling. >> is there an end game? what are they going towards? >> well, the end game for us is to keep those reactor cores covers. the next several days in particular. now especially might get power back in there and that will help a lot but those spent fuel rods and that mysterious pool there in unit four is the one to keep an eye on because we really don't know what is going on there. >> we don't know. conflicting reports about whether or not the water was gone and we know the water has to stay on

bill whitaker, cbs news, los angeles. >> joining us now is mat tro moan yal attorney raoul felder andustody cases. good to see you. >> good morning, chris. >> have you seen more bizarre than this? >> it's the gift that keeps giving here. looks like he's in self-destruktsz mode at this point. i don't think it's a question of custody. i think the question is, will he ever be able to be alone with his kids. that's the battle now. >> that's what i'm going to ask you. brooke mueller has gotten this restraining order against charlie sheen, claims he's made threats, namely, quote, i'll cut your head off, stuff it in a box and send it to your parents. charlie sheen denies it. can this order be vacated? is there a chance this man gets his children back some. >>? america we believe in second acts, nixon, clinton, frank sinatra, but this guy is going to have to go country [ inaudible ] before this takes place. not to mention his household situation. living with two women. they alternate beds with him every other night. i have an idea for him, have two at once, and then take a night off. invite u