air circling over fukushima daiichi. then i heard a noise, a sound like it came from a battle field. >> that sound was a hydrogen explosion caused by a melt down at fukushima daiichi's reactor 1. everyone within 20 kilometers, 12 miles from the plant was ordered to evacuate. >> translator: i could see which began on the 12th but i had 330 cows to care for, i couldn't flee, couldn't evacuate. >> as deeply tied he was to these cattle to this fear it was a decision he feared would cost him his life. >> on the 15th of march there were explosion at reactor 2 and reactor 4. that's when i thought, i'm done for. >> explosions blanketed with esezium and other radioactive materials. after seeing other farms abandoned he simply couldn't bear to leave. >> i heard animals crying out. this is where it looked likely. wherever i looked were scenes of a living hell. i couldn't do the same thing to my own cattle. >> yoshizawa has tested positive to international exposure to the radioactive sezium 184 and one . he is receiving monitoring a

the team set up at fukushima daiichi. they had to walk in an area where the radiation level is five millisieverts per hour. they can only stay here for 15 minutes. so the engineers worked in shifts. the engineer places the boat alongside the containment vessel. they use the remote control to move it along. the boat sent back a radiation reading of 2,000 millisieverts per hour. anyone exposed to that would die in a few hours. the device transmitted these images, showing water flowing down the side of the containment vessel. the camera captured another leak nearby. contaminated water was gushing out of a broken pipe. experts analyzed the video. and were shocked by what they saw. >> translator: it will be extremely difficult to pinpoint the leaks. it will all depend on our ability to develop new robots. >> reporter: the space between the metal containment vessel, and the concrete is only five centimeters. that makes it hard for engineers to get a picture of the crack, so they can figure out how to fix it. managers fukushima

this is japan's fukushima daiichi power plant.n history. the closer we get, these things are just skyrocketing. 2 1/2 years after this country was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami that triggered the meltdown, we gained rare access to examine the fallout by land and by sea. to find out if fukushima is still a threat to japan and the rest of the world. they suspect some of the most contaminated water lies right there on that sea floor. let's see if i'm contaminated with radiation. our journey to find answers takes us through a nuclear danger zone, even inside a damaged reactor. a place few people ever dare to go. march 11, 2011, that massive 9.0 earthquake, the largest ever to rock japan. the tsunami that followed engulfed entire villages. then the triple whammy, giant waves flood the fukushima plant, knocking out power and causing a melt doup that spewed radiation across the country side and into the ocean. >> tokyo electric power company -- >> at first, tepco, the plant's operator and largest energy company in japan down play

the situation is quite different at fukushima daiichi. screening workers is left up to the contractors that supply the facility. they are not obliged to submit data to the plant's operator or any national institution. professor says japan has much to learn from what's happening at chernobyl. >> translator: japan hasn't decided how far it wants to go to monitor the health of workers at fukushima daiichi. ukraine provides an example we should follow. >> reporter: he says japanese leaders should introduce a centralized system to collect health data right away. he's now preparing to submit his report to the government. mamoru ichikawa, nhk world, chernobyl, ukraine. >>> there's a snowstorm in parts of the u.s. meteorologist robert speta has more on that. robert? >> hello, gene. yeah, we've been talking about this for a few days now, and just in the past 24 hours the snow really has been coming down all across the eastern seaboard. even as far south as virginia beach. typically known for its warmer weather. actually, you've been seeing some si

the people in charge of fukushima daiichi are struggling to control the plant. how will they stop the leaks and decommission the facilities? get the latest on the aftermaths of the nuclear accident with in depth reports and special features. "nuclear watch" only on "newsline." >>> the flooding continues in the philippines. our meteorologist robert speta has been following the situation from wednesday. robert. >> this flooding continuing to go on, like you said. what we're going to be seeing through the next 72 hours is yet more rain fall. so everything that's already been happening, unfortunately it's going to be getting worse possibly out here. right now we have the center of circulation just off the eastern seaboards here. this will drift over towards the west over these already saturated ground. in the last seven days the rainfall accumulation based on satellite imagery, you have seen upwards of 700 to 800 meters of rainfall. this has been causing problems, flooding, landslides, over 25 deaths reported at this time due to this low pressure system. a tropical

>> we are about 200 kilometers from daiichi.you can see on the map, here we are and here is where fukushima is. >> it is around 150 miles up the coast. >> yes. >> how toxic or radioactive is it here? >> compared to the rest of japan, tokyo got a certain amount of fallout. relatively speaking, i think the levels, what they are today are maybe 50% higher than what they were before the disaster. compared to locations in fukushima, it is relatively low, in terms of exposure to radioactivity. this is nothing compared to what is happening in fukushima and the areas around their. >> you are taking us beyond the borders of japan. >> yes. a globalstarted as organization. we got lots of help from outside japan. we would not be able to do it without all the volunteers. we got lots of people outside japan who had the same worry. they're using the same equipment now to measure their own environments. we have people measuring in the u.s., in europe, volunteers in africa now. we have just covered all the seven continents in terms of the first

six helicopters in the air taking terms circulating over fukushima daiichi, and i heard an explosion, a noise sounding like it came from a battlefield. >> that sound was a hydrogen explosion caused by a meltdown at fukushima daiichi's reactor one. everyone within 20km, some 12 miles of the plant, was ordered to evacuate. >> i could see the town-wide evacuation beginning on the 12th. i had 330 cows to care for. i couldn't flee, couldn't evacuate. >> as deeply tied as he was to the cattle, to this soil, it was a decision he came to fear would cost him his life. >> on 15 march there were explosions at reactor 2 and 4. that's when i started to think, "this is it, i'm done for." >> the multiple explosions blanked masami yoshizawa's farm. after seeing other farms abandoned he couldn't bring himself to leave. >> i heard animals crying out. this is what it looked like. >> wherever i looked were scenes from a living hell. i couldn't do the same thing to my own cattle. >> masami yoshizawa has tested positive for internal exposure to the radioactive elements but is undergoing monitoring at a ra

looking at creating a new division to deal with the growing problem of contaminated water at fukushima daiichi and to dismantle reactors. it has set aside $19 billion for the work. >> translator: tepco should show the people, and to show them that the company's changing and it will keep on changing. you should do this through your efforts and action. >> the government has increased the limit of its interest-free loans to tepco to $86 billion. the utility is using the money for decontamination efforts, and to compensate evacuees. company officials plan to streamline management, and close local offices to cut costs by $46 billion. they want to make tepco competitive. >>> the head of the united nations is trying to raise billions of dollars to help those suffering because of the syrian civil war. secretary-general ban ki-moon is hosting a humanitarian donor conference in kuwait. representatives from 60 countries are attending the meeting. ban mentioned a report on famine in syria in his opening remarks. he says the whole world needs to tacking the crisis not just in the middle east. ban wants to

the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant says it will look for more possible water leaks at one of its damaged reactors. >>> the u.s. justice department will seek the death penalty for a man charged with the boston marathon bombings. >>> and some people in china are scaling back their celebrations as they get set to ring in the lunar new year. >>> the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant is discovering more damage at the containment vessel of reactor number one. it says it is going to take steps to avoid further contamination in the area. nhk world's missco nishikawa reports. >> reporter: engineers are investigating leaks in several places in the container that holds nuclear fuel. the plant's water circulation system was destroyed in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. workers have been injecting more than four tons of water an hour into the vessel to cool the nuclear fuel. in november crews using a robot equipped with a camera discovered two leaks in the lower part of the containment vessel. they estimate that more than three tons of water may be le

minister also spoke about nuclear energy, a major issue in the wake of the 2011 accident at fukushima daiichi. he says the government has no plans at this point to build new plants. >> translator: only those nuclear power plants that satisfy strict new safety standards will be allowed to resume operations. currently, we have no plans to give the go-ahead to new nuclear plant building projects. >> political reporters across japan are going through what prime minister abe said, line by line. masayo nakajima is here with his perspective. he says the door to dialogue is always open. is there any possibility relations will improve between japan and its neighbors. >> japan's relations between south korea won't be easy. prime minister abe says he wants to explain why he went to yasukuni shrine. but he admits that talks with china and south korea are not on the horizon. and south korean president park geun-hye agrees. she suggested on monday in her first news conference of the year that it would be difficult to hold a summit meeting for the time being. park says japanese leaders have recently been co

. >>> the operator of the fukushima daiichi power plant is getting a new chairman. the board of directors at tokyo electric power company has chosen the firm's outside director for the top post. sudo will replace the current president. he expressed his intention to step down last month after the utility submitted a new business plan to the government. sudo joined kawasaki steel back in 1964. then in 2005 he became president of jfe holdings which was set up through kawasaki's merger with another steelmaker nkk. he's been an outside director for tepco since 2012. and drafting the company's business plan, sudo proposed steps to streamline operations and boost profits. he also made a strong request to the government to shoulder part of the cost for decontamination at the fukushima daiichi plant. sudo will officially assume the post on april 1st. >>> one of tokyo's best-known attractions is getting ready for some major changes. local officials are planning a new facility for the outer area of the tsukiji market. professional chefs and tourists come to tsukiji to buy seaf

. >> the japanese government has raised the crisis level at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant from 5 to 7. >> the confirmed death toll continues to climb. >> hundreds of thousands fled the radiation. many are still unable to return home. property damages and cleanup costs may run over $250 billion. >> the operator of the disabled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant has agreed to make provisional damage payments to residents living around the plant. >> what if it happened in the united states? who would pay? a catastrophe like fukushima could erase all existing insurance protection under federal law. it makes the u.s. liability compensation system look grossly inadequate. there are 104 nuclear power plants in the u.s. spread across 31 states. they produce 20% of our electrical power. they all carry some insurance against a nuclear accident, but the combined total coverage is only $12.6 billion. beyond that, americans would be uninsured... or as the insurance industry puts it, naked. >> if you have to evacuate a very large city, or tens or hundreds of thousands of people are d

it is the host of fukushima daiichi.dent, the townspeople fled 250 kilometers to the outskirts of tokyo. the japanese government is providing three boxed lunches a day. >> 10 to 20 people occupy each classroom. >> that is a clip from, "nuclear nation: the fukushima refugees story." we are joined here in our tokyo studio by its director astsushi funahashi. it is great to have you with us. i watched the film on the plane as i was flying to japan. it is a powerful film about nuclear refugees. >> thank you for having me, amy. how did you like the film? >> it is astounding. you have this entire town, futaba, that was completely relocated into a school. explain how this happened. was -- entire japan was pretty much confused right after this accident happened. first of all, the japanese evacuationordered from ground zero, from fukushima day two. then 10 kilometers, then 20 kilometers. march 2011. in the american government, actually, made in advisory to the american people staying in japan to stay away i believe 60 miles from a

three years ago an earthquake and subsequent tsunami crippled the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant in japan a meltdown of astronomical proportions began the true scale of the disaster remains largely unknown but based on what we do know things look bleak session for those who rushed to help when the crisis began that's certainly the case of the five thousand sailors aboard the u.s.s. ronald reagan who were sent to help with the cleanup. as they were floating offshore they weren't given any sort of preventative treatment or iodine tablets until after they left japan eighty days later in fact they weren't even told there was a nuclear meltdown for an entire month all the while dozing themselves daily with radioactive water sailors on board were told to sign away their liability and for good reason over one hundred of them have since developed radiation sickness and cancer which brings me to the u.s. pacific coast conflicting reports of their pain a rosy picture or that we're in big trouble not to mention the some of this information coming from tepco and japan's government to help me

he begins his report from the zone surrounding the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, where emergencyooling and trying to stabilize pressure inside the reactors. >> the fukushima daiichi crisis is not one nuclear emergency. it is four potentially catastrophic events standing side by side. in all, there are six reactor stations. numbers ones through four are in peril. crews risk their lives to get water onto melting uranium fuel. through explosions and blasts of radioactive steam, a few hundred japanese join battle with the most powerful force known to man. one of the americans responding to the emergency is julia nesheiwat. she's a state department official who was already in japan working on nuclear issues. she served in washington as deputy chief of staff to the director of national intelligence. in tokyo, she's been on the fukushima disaster from the start. >> we're providing the full resources of the united states government? everything we've got... >> yes, absolutely. >> we've told them is at their disposal. >> absolutely. >> our best people are on this? >> yes, they are. working

the people in charge of fukushima daiichi are struggling to control the plant. how will they stop the leaks and decommission the facilities? get the latest on the aftermaths of the nuclear accident with in depth reports and special features. "nuclear watch" only on "newsline." >>> members of the japan coast guard started their year off doing something out of the ordinary. they rescued a chinese man after his balloon fell into the east china saw. he splashed down near the senkaku islands. japan controls the islands, china and taiwan claim them. the japanese government maintains the islands are its inherent territory in terms of both history and international law. ghost card officers say they were informed on wednesday a balloon had been missing in the area. crew members found it floating and found a man drifting nearby. he's 35 years old. he told them he left his home in china on his own to fly to the islands. diplomats negotiated over what to do with him. then the japanese handed him over to the crew of a chinese patrol ship. >>> japanese ship builders are going

is a shareholder of tokyo electric power company or tepco, the operator of the damaged fukushima daiichi plant. the former prime ministers are trying to start a national debate in an effort to spark change. >> how are other candidates approaching the issue? >> former health ministry noich chi mass sew says he will aim to build a society that does not depend on nuclear power. another candidate, lawyer, kenji utsunomiya, says phasing out atomic energy is necessary. former air self-defense force chief of staff to be i don't tamogami argues it's possible to operate the reactors safely. he says it should be up to the citizens to decide the pros and cons of nuclear power. some say the candidate shouldn't about a single issue and say there are more important things to talk about. the race to be tokyo's next governor is shaping up to be an interesting one. the voters have a lot to think about before they cast their ballots. >> my yuko, thanks, as always. >> the official campaign for the tokyo gubernatorial election will last 17 days. "newsline" will bring you coverage leading up to the vote and

onboard the reagan turns out that the reagan was anchored just a mile or two off of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant during the worst of the radioactivity releases which was news to me i mean i know. all of this is closely as i can two years into this thing i find out that the reagan was that close to these catastrophic radioactivity releases so the crew on board that ship five thousand sailors were in harm's way for several long days on and not worn by top though not warned by the japanese government not warned by the united states government which had radiation detecting planes flying all over northeastern japan so what you would think the an aircraft carrier in this day of dirty bombs and you know the that they would have radiation detectors on the on the on the ship well some of the first news that was really disturbing in the first days of proximity to was that the aircraft carrier detected radioactivity on the helicopters coming back landing on board the flight deck and so one of the sailors who has now stepped forward in a big way was servicing those helicopters another of

two thousand and eleven now they are suing tepco the company in charge of the stricken fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant at least seventy one sailors on the u.s.s. ronald reagan have reported radiation sickness and is suing tepco alleging that the company knowingly downplayed the dangers of nuclear radiation at that fukushima site of those seventy one sailors at least half now have some form of cancer or to a lawyer representing and other sailors are dealing with thyroid and reproductive health problems so did tepco didn't knowingly mislead the world about the radioactive dangers at fukushima immediately following the devastating tsunami and could this lawsuit be the first of many to come joining me now for more on this is kevin camp's radioactive waste watchdog at beyond nuclear kevin welcome back thanks not always nice to see it thank you so what's the story i think i have i've seen absolute no coverage of this in any american media so first of all is it actually real that the soldiers aboard the u.s.s. ronald reagan off the coast of japan when. when fukushima meltdown were exposed

the tsunami that followed engulfed entire villages, flooding the fukushima daiichi power plant.nd triggering a nuclear catastrophe. 2 1/2 years later, we gain rare access to examine the fallout by land and by sea, to find out if fukushima is still a threat to the rest of the world. near the plant, a 12-mile stretch of evacuated land still teems with radiation hot spots. this is the permit we have to get. locals call it the no-go zone. we can go. on the other side, ghost towns, where time just stood still. this better work. we suit up, armed with radiation detectors to tell us when we're in danger. we go inside fukushima's ground zero to see the unprecedented cleanup under way. though critics are skeptical the power plant's embattled operator, tepco, is up to the task. the closer we get to the ruins of the meltdown, our radiation detectors climb. on another hot spot. it is a serious warning. tepco told us we can only spend one hour inside the plant. any more time and we risk harmful radiation exposure. radiation right here alone, about 2,000-times higher than outside fukushima. 1

japan caused the being worse nuclear disaster since chernobyl, 73 naval officers are suing fukushima daiichi power plant. as al jazeera's gianna tobioni explains, frightening illnesses including are hemorrhaging and cancer. >> what i went through is 100% changed my life forever. >> 70,000 u.s. military personnel were located where the fukushima power plant leaked radiation. michael sea borne, was assigned to check. >> the air was 300 times higher than a normal day of the sun. >> seaborne and his team says they were exposed to these levels, and now three years later, he is feeling the effects. >> i have about 60%, 50 to 60% of the power i used to have out of the right side of my body. >> steve simmons say his life will never be the same. simmons among others said they drank contaminated desalinated sea water. cooked with it, bathed with it, the effects are now debilitating. >> out of nowhere i dropped 20 to 25 pounds completely unexpectedly. i dealt with night sweats and the illness keeps going. >> he continues to lose power between his legs and arms. signals between his legs and arms are bei

the tsunami that followed engulfed entire villages, hitting the fukushima daiichi power plant and triggering catastrophe. two and a half years later, we gain access by land and sea to find out if fukushima is still a threat to the rest of the world. near the plant, a 12-mile stretch of teams with radiation hot spots. on the other side, ghost spots where time stood still. we suited up with radiation detectors to tell us when we're in danger. we go to fukushima's ground zero to see the unprecedented cleanup under way. though critics are skeptical, tepco is up to the task. the closer we get to the ruins of the meltdown, our detectors climb. it is a serious warning. tepco tells us we can only spend one hour inside the plant. any more time and we risk harmful radiation exposure. radiation right here alone, about 2,000 times higher than outside fukushima. 1500 highly radioactive rods inside this pool. they have to move them outside this reactor to a safer location. it is a vital first step to shut down this plant, a process that will take 40 years. and here's what tepco says it's doing to block th

. >> this is as far as you can go before entering the exclusion zone surrounding the fukushima daiichi power plant. inside, the power company is struggling to contain the on going nuclear disaster. the japanese government says the situation is under control, so we traveled here to find out whether that is in fact true, or if the world still needs to be worried. >> david mcneil has been covering the fukushima disaster since it began nearly three years ago. >> how serious a crisis do we still have here? >> i think this is an on going crisis. you've had a series of ad hoc strategies designed to deal with the cries that's right in front of you. >> the real headache comes from the hundreds of tons of melted radioactive fuel in reactors one, two and three. >> they only have the vaguest idea of where that fuel sits, the molten fuel and what they have to do is keep it cool with water. if they don't, radiation escapes and we're back to square one. >> a on the stop flow of water is necessary to keep the melted down uranium cool. they have built thousands of tanks to store the daily flood of cont

the tsunami that followed engulfed entire villages flooding the fukushima daiichi nuclear program.ears later we gained access by land and by sea to find out if fukushima is still a threat to the rest of the world. near the plant, a 12-mile stretch of evacuated land still teamed with radiation hot spots. >> so this is our permit we've got to get. >> reporter: locals call it the no-go zone. >> we can go. >> reporter: on the other side, ghost town where time just stood still. >> this better work. >> reporter: we suit up armed with radiation detectors to tell us when we're in danger. we go inside fukushima's ground zero to see the unprecedented cleanup underway. 1500 highly radioactive fuel rods inside this pool. they've got to move them outside of this reactor into a safer location. this is a vital dangerous first step to shut down this plant. a process that will take 40 years. and here's what tepco says they are doing to block the radiation from entering the pacific. >> underneath this concrete there's a chemical barrier that prevents the water from floating out. these fuel tanks her

two young children when the government ordered everyone inside after the explosions at fukushima daiichi. when her husband ignored her fears and refused to leave. she filed for divorce. it's a kind of marital discord so common these days. the japanese have a name for it. nuclear divorce. >> translation: i felt if i stayed with him i wouldn't be able to keep my children from harm. that's how i got here. >> here is a city far from fukushima, far from the worries of radiation. >> was it worth splitting the family? >> translation: i don't know if it was the right choice. i don't know. but the best thing about being here is seeing my children outside playing. to not worry and see them like that makes me very happy. >> part two of our series on the disaster at the fukushima plant will look at the workers there on the front lines. that's in our 7 o'clock hour. >> a travel warning for americans attending the winter olympics in sochi russia. the state department says u.s. citizens should stay on alert because of terrorist threats, crime and uncertain medical care. washington says it's not aware o

. >> this is as far as you can go before entering the exclusion zone surrounding the fukushima daiichiower plant. inside the tokyo electorate power company, or tepco is struggling to maintain the disaster. the japanese government says the situation is under control. we travelled here to find out whether that is, in fact, true or if the world needs to be worried. david mcneil has covered the fukushima disaster since it began three years ago. how serious questions do we have in japan? >> i think it's an ongoing crisis. have you had a series of ad hoc strategies designed to deal with the crisis. >> the headache comes from tonnes of of melted fuel in reactors one, two and three. >> they have the vaguest idea of where the moulten fuel sit. they have to keep it cool with water, if not, it heats up, radiation escapes. >> a constant flow of water is necessary to keep the melted down uranium cool. tepco built thousands of tanks to store the water. they are running out of space. >> it's a forest of tanks, there's over 1,000 of them. >> then there's the ground water. the power company admitted th

afraid of what many call the invisible enemy that haunts the hundreds of square miles around fukushima daiichio come home. >> no good comes from agonizing over the past. i justify focused on how to move the city forward into the future. we have led evacuees know that we are doing decontamination and working to reduce their worries and anxieties. >> to reduce the radiation, all the top soil must be scraped away and eventually replaced. contaminated shrubs must be pruned, trees cut down and removed. >> the contaminated soil is dumped at hundreds of sites like this. to give you a sense of the scale of the operation, the bags here were taken from only 400 homes, but the city has plans to decontaminate 20,000 in all. >> she was living in fukushima city with her children and husband when everyone was ordered inside. >> when her husband ignored her fears and refused to leave fukushima, she filed divorce. it's so common these days, the japanese call it nuclear divorce. >> i felt like if i stayed with him, i wouldn't be able to keep my children from harm and that's how i got here. >> here is the city,

it's now where workers gather before heading into the fukushima daiichi power plant in the front lines of the on going nuclear disaster. >> the core number of workers that work for tepco are coworkers, not contract workers, but that's a relatively small percentage of the people who work on the power plant. the rest of contractors, subcontractors. >> david mcneil is a journalist and author, who's followed the polite of these unsung heroes of fukushima. >> they are recruited by the hundreds of subcontractors that have poured in. there's an norm mouse amount of money scattered around. >> very little of ma money actually makes it into the hands of those on the front lines. >> workers tell me they make $100 a day, give or take. the lowest being $60. >> workers say they are given little training on avoiding exposure. a worker who has traveled japan for labor most of his life. he didn't want to be identified for fear of retribution. he was shocked to find radioactive hot spots where he worked, marked with tape, but never decontaminated. the lack of training and protective gear made him fear f