dr. helen caldicott on the health effects of nuclear radiation. coming up, on "earth focus." >> an earthquake and tsunami struck japan's fukushima nuclear power plantnt. three reactors suffered a meltdown. >> 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 allll carry some insurance against a nuclear accid

dr. helen caldicott, a pediatrician and author. she offered a far more dire view o of fukushima's s heh impact soon after the disaster. dr. caldicott, fukushima--is it possibible to forecast the heaah conseququences to the japananese people, and on what scale are they likely to o materirialize? >> well, it's a guess, really, but i have been following itit extremely closely every day since the thing started. and i must say that two days after it began, i got this horrifying, horrifying vision and feeling ththat this was like descending into hell, and that there's nonothing anyone c could do abot or willll be able to dodo abouti and the e results s are irreversible. . i thoughght huns of thousands would die as a result of fukushima with cancer or leukemia, and--but it will also affect future generations down the timescale, both from the fact that the food and the ground in large areas of japan is heavily contaminated with isotopes that last for hundreds of years. so they re-concentrate back in the food chain continuously, so you neve