after 21 days managing the crisis, denton left. tom kaufman stayed with the plant 23 years and is now with the industry's main lobbying group. >> 32 years later there absolutely no medical or scientific evidence that shows that anyone outside the plant was harmed. >> reporter: still, public confidence in nuclear power was shaken then, as it is being shaken now. elaine quijano, cbs news, new york. >> just ahead on tonight's "cbs evening news", who in the u.s. government allowed guns to be smuggled to mexican drug cartels? >> according to a new report, drug violence in mexico has forced 230,000 people to flee, about half seeking refuge in the united states this is new details emerge about a u.s. program that allowed illegal guns to be smuggled in the other direction. cheryl attkisson has been following the drug trail. >> since our first report in which atf agents told us they allowed thousands of weapons to cross into mexico, one crucial question has been who knew how high you up. atf sources say they were told the controversial oper

after 21 days managing the crisis, denton left.uffman stayed with the plant 23 years, and is now with the industry's main lobbying group. >> 32 years later, there's absolutely no medical or scientific evidence that shows anyone outside the plant was harmed. >> reporter: still, public confidence in nuclear power was shaken then, as it's being shaken now. elaine quijano, cbs news, new york. >>> this morning on "the early show," the latest on the crisis in libya, and a preview of tonight's speech by president obama. i'm terrell brown. this is the "cbs morning news." kinds of exercise, t but basically, i'm a runner. last year. (oof). i had a bum knee that needed surgery. but it got complicated, because i had an old injury. so i wanted a doctor who had done this before. and unitedhealthcare's database helped me find a surgeon. you know you can't have great legs, if you don't have good knees. we're 78,000 people looking out for 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new f

. >>> this comes to us from kxas nbc 5 in dallas, texas, where in nearby denton one teenager is pounding the pavement hoping to find some work in the world of politics. 18-year-old zorro is running for a seat on the city council. when he's not studying, the college student is campaigning meeting the residents he wants to represent. an incumbent opponent is his biggest hurdle on election day. but the chance to make a difference is the driving force that's keeping him from sitting on the sidelines. you were doing that when you were 18, right, bill? >> no, i wasn't. my mother does local politics and i have gone door to door knocking with her and it takes courage. >> i didn't realize. >> nowadays people don't like you knocking on their doors as much as they used to. >> with a kid like that i'm sure they'd love it. >> yes, he looks nice. >>> i'm lynn berry, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. >>> as the country mourns their beloved kanut, a zoo in germany is introducing twins that could fill his shoes. gregor and alleyut made their appearance

build any more of them now they should have stopped the men in one thousand nine hundred five harold denton and then head of n.r.c. safety said to a conference industry conference there's a ninety percent chance of containment failure of this design reactor in the event of an accident that's in nine hundred eighty five because almost forty years to shut these things down why the heck are they still run we have one and requires they realize the same there's here's another question the nuclear industry in the us i understand actually since seventy something seventy three seventy nine has been buying into an insurance pool if that's the case why is price anderson still around percy anderson was the law that was passed bed with fifty's or sixty's to make nuclear power possible because nobody would insure it and to what extent if price here or someone away if we did tax payers stop backstopping industry with this massive subsidy if there was a way to what extent would clear power still exist either of you want to take a shot at. no well it's kind of hard to predict but they can't survive without

president of the united states jimmy carter at the time said of his personal representative harold denton who was a accomplished nuclear engineer but also could speak plain english and he developed a real facility and informing us in informing the public as to what was going on but in the end. we were very uneasy about our inability to get our arms around the facts so you know there are other cases of this i know it's too early to look at it but looking back i would think that it now looking back at the incident it did of the time it was strong and uniquely a sentiment in the united states indeed we've seen some approaches even today do you think current events in japan will change attitudes to atomic energy. i don't think there's any question that this is not good news for those who are promoting an aggressive development of nuclear power. of late prior to this incident there had been a rethinking as i believe in our country and elsewhere of the viability of nuclear power. one reason is the. volatility of the world market for. oil the other is the misgivings about carbon emissions from f

in fact one of the republicans, denton or somebody like that, one of the leaders said you are calling us the no people. let me tell you. you are the no people on pensions. you are the no people on things like caps. who really should be identified as the no people? and that's where we are. they're both no people. >> this puts jerry brown in the middle. he:has personally tried to negotiate these things, unlike arnold who did everything publicly and would call people names and stomp around. jerry is actually bringing these people in one on one and trying to negotiate something. how does this work with him. >> well, in some cases he's tried to negotiate. but in others, like when he called in rodney write the state senator who was vote nod -- democratic who vote nod on redevelopment. there was no negotiations. he performed roddy wright, i need you to vote for this. you understand it's not about money. it's about whether or not i can abolish these agencies. frifers' made that announcement and i -- i've made that announcement and i want to make it stick. that's not negotiation. >> he hasn't

insurance company covered him until he got out of college and i could provide him with a vision in denton- in toronto. he is still on my health care and i paid extra for vision and didn't go, because my son needs glasses, and he needs teeth, his rambunctious and he bumped into them. i am opposed for the government doing -- what we call government these days, doing anything to us. it is way out of control. it is beyond comprehension, the amount of debt that the federal government is then, and they keep piling it on like the party will never end. host: another headline at of the middle east. this is the "washington post." we will go to nicole in dayton, ohio. we lost in the cold. kerrey, a republican baltimore. you're next. caller: good morning and thank you for c-span. i do not know why i was celebrating. on my own personal experience, i have a spinal injury. they're telling me now that i can i get the pre-existing insurance plan, the new plan, unless i do not have in the insurance company coverage for six months. how is that going to help me if i cannot work and i do not have any money? t

. >> back in the -- several memos have surfaced by howard denton, a legend in the nuclear field, and john ahern, former nrc commissioner, that they both warned that this design in a catastrophe could create big problems. >> and what about location, charlie? you know, this is located right on the coast. we've -- >> well, you know -- >> we've got a few nuclear reactors right on the coast. >> in japan, i mean, the problem is there's not a lot of spare land. but we try to put reactors on the coast because particularly if you're shipping components for their construction, it's easy to land on the coast, and, you know, you're talking about big vessels and tubes, and you put them on the back of a flatbed truck, you know, you disrupt entire community bees even if you can get them through. so this is why we tend to build reactors predominantly near the coast. likewise, it's easier to ship out if we go to long-term nuclear waste storage in a geological repository somewhere, you can ship it out without having to transit the dangerous fuel through populated communities. so this is why we do it,