. >> fukushima reinvigorated this discussion of how n.r.c. considers land contamination, economic consequences within its regulatory framework and also if the n.r.c. would like to do anything differently in the future. >> we're always looking for ways to improve the regulatory process and how we regulate the civilian uses of nuclear materials. >> but some experts are concerned about safety and regulations. today, u.s. nuclear power plants are aging. built to last 40 years, more than half are at least 30 years old. >> if we're going to have nuclear power, then we believe it has to be as safe and secure as possible. and we've been long concerned that neither in the united states or other countries is the regulatory infrastructure adequate to make sure nuclear plants are safe. >> i think that there is reasonable assurance that we're never going to have a catastrophic accident of the magnitude of what happened in japan. >> but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. >> you know, it can be the black swan event: low probability of occurrence but high

on these developments and what's next for the country in turmoil and more than two years ago the fukushima power plant disaster started now the plant manager fighting to keep it under control has died while radiation levels have increased more on the legacy of up in today's show. it's wednesday july tenth five pm in washington d.c. i'm sam sax you're watching r.t. and we begin with major news in the bradley manning trial the defense has rested its case the private first class is facing twenty one charges including aiding the enemy for his role in providing wiki leaks with internal state department and military documents and one day after attempting to have some of the most serious charges against bradley manning dismissed in only three days into their arguments the defense has now rested i spoke with our correspondent lives waller earlier from for me in maryland with the latest on the trial. did that come as a surprise sabba happened at about two point five this afternoon after some of the most compelling testimony we have heard yet in this trial and the after that bradley manning's attorn

japanese have been talking about it since the 2011 nuclear accident in fukushima. now, the official campaign for the upper house election will last 17 days. "newsline" will bring you extensive coverage leading up to the vote and will have results and analysis once the polls close on election day, july 21st. >>> a top japanese official has voiced concern china might be building a natural gas rig in the south china sea. he said it's too close to an economic border between china and japan. representatives from both sides five years ago agreed to jointly develop gas fields near the area. but japan's chief cabinet secretary yoshihide suga says a chinsz crane ship appears to be working on a new marine platform without japan's involvement. suga said it's just 26 kilometers from the line that divides the country's economic zones. >> translator: if china is union lateralteerally developing sour the area, it will not be tolera tolerated. >> chinese foreign minister spokesperson hua chunying told reporters there's nothing to dispute. she said china is working in waters under

now the fukushima daiichi plant continues to be plagued with problems. engineers there say chemical corrosion is the likely cause of a leak last month of contaminated water from a new filtering system. the system is designed to remove radioactive substances from the water. workers at the plant found a leak in part of the stainless steel tank that had been welded. when they emptied the tank they found two holes and more than ten dents inside. each dent was with two to five millimeters in diameter. officials of tep co-company say a chemical used to remove i am purities likely reacted with the vessel. about 400 tons of contaminated water at the plant due to ground water seeping into the reactor buildings. >>> the people of the tsunami hit area have a branching symbol of hope for the future. artists have restored a lone pine tree. they saw the tsunami wipe out majestic pines except one. it became a symbol of reconstruction until it died. city leaders decided to restore it so the symbol could work on. locals appreciated the work and artisans preserved the ori

the units must pass stricter safety checks put in place in response to the 2011 accident in fukushima. power cha eer companies are see restart ten reactors. they're located throughout japan on the northern island of hokkaido to sendai. power company executives submitted their applications to the nuclear regulation authority on monday, the day the new safety requirements took effect. 80 experts with the watchdog will determine whether the utilities have taken all necessary measures to make sure plants wi plants can withstand. it will take six months to process each applications. currently two are online. the regulatory agency says the stricter safety rules are based on lessons learned from the disaster at fukushima daiichi two years ago. does that mean that nuclear safety is guaranteed? our reporter has more. >> reporter: new requirements requires operators to implement a number of measures, protecting for the highest tsunami waves, setting up breakwaters and take other precautions to prevent sea water from entering a facility. the new requirements also oblige operators to upgrade thei

the fukushima accident exposed the risks and expense associated with nuclear power. japanese have been complacent. >> day by day, that's the memory of what the impression is going back. >> the u it ility companies have started the process of restarting the nuclear power plants. we must let the memories of that fate regardless of our personal views on nuclear energy. it's clear that more on how to empower the country is essential. nhk world, tokyo. >> we will be covering a number of issues ahead of the upper house election. during the day, we will examine the challenges leaders face from relation to the u.s. to ties with neighboring countries, china and south korea. >> prime minister abe goes towards the economy and gets back to growth. he is setting his sights on amending the constitution, but his party must make a strong showing so it can push policies forward. less than a year after putting abe in power, they have a chance to judge him on his record. don't miss our special coverage leading up to the election right here on "newsline." >> experts are in japan to work

definitely disrupted anybody's travel plans going through that area of fukushima. this was due to rainfall earlier in the week, saturated the ground and caused a landslide. that's what we're talking about heavy rainfall, saturated ground and risk of landslides. for now tokyo with a high of 29 on saturday. expecting to get into the 30s by sunday. seoul at 28. shanghai, 37 to start off your weekend. look towards the americas. what's going on here? well, the southwest monsoon, that moisture being pulled out of the pacific still bringing showers in mexico, four corners region, risk of thunderstorms and also flash flooding out of that as well in the short-time heavy rain. but the bulk of the severe weather is off to the north. you can even see on satellite picture that cold front starting to develop towards the midwest pushing off towards the east. that is going to bring some thunderstorm activity in places like chicago over towards detroit, into buffalo as well as that does continue to push through the great lakes region. we've already been seeing some hail out here, u

. >> fishermen are upset that contaminated water is seeping from the fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean. >>> people in britain and around the world are waiting for the first public appearance of the son of prince william and his wife kate. >>> japanese negotiators have made their debut at talks to create a free trade zone across asia and the pacific. >>> fishermen are angry at the operator of the fukushima nuclear power plant. tokyo electric power company has admitted that contaminated underground water is seeping into the ocean. about 100 fishermen attended a private briefing session by tepco. officials from the utility reportedly said the spread of the contamination is limited. they also explained their plan to build walls along the coast to prevent tainted water from leaking into the ocean. some fishermen reportedly said tepco officials may have deliberately concealed the information. others said they cannot trust the firm. >> translator: i've lost hope. >> translator: i feel nothing but anger. >> the fishermen are worried about the impact on their plans to resume fishing on a

cleanup efforts at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant have run into extended delays. 150,000 people living around the plant had to evacuate. they're still waiting to hear when they can go home. some evacuees are suffering from stress-related health problems. government agencies say about 2,600 people died after moving into temporary shelters or housing. >>> workers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant are struggling to cope with one problem after another. nuclear regulators say it is highly likely that contaminated water from the facility is seeping into the sea. they'll form a working group to study the cause and find ways to stop it. the plant's operator tokyo electric power company has been reporting high levels of radioactive substances in a well near the sea since may. the firm said on tuesday that levels of cesium in a new observation well had risen to 100 times the level logged four days earlier. officials of the nuclear regulation authority discussed the problem on wednesday. >> translator: it is essential to find out why such a phenomenon is occurring. we need to identify

. >>> the head of the expert panel of tokyo electric power company fukushima daiichi criticized the ceo. dale klein became chairman of the reform committee for tepco last october. he spoke to nhk world on saturday about the company's late response to the public on contaminated water. >> in fact, the first time i heard about it, some of the initial reports was via the press and so that's one of the reasons i was rather unhappy is that the reform committee has encouraged tepco to do a much better job on their communication. our reform committee had encouraged tepco earlier to develop a much better risk communication program. we thought that was under way, we had hopes of it being successful, and then when this latest issue of groundwater contamination had occurred, i think all of the committee members were very frustrated with tepco. >> it took months from the time tepco first found that data could be interpreted as showing contaminated groundwater at fukushima daiichi seeping into the ocean for the utility to admit the fact. klein said that the executives explained it took time to verify

he was one of the fukushima 50 who worked after the accident to prevent a broader catastrophe. he died after a battle of cancer of the esophagus. >> reporter: he had managed fukushima daiichi for just nine months when he was confronted with the biggest challenge of his career. he was in charge at the time of the accident. then led a fight to bringhe reaerkts under control. he recounted his experiences in november 2011 about eight months later. >> translator: after the accident, to be honest, i thought several times that i might die. i felt the plant was out of control. so i thought this is the end. >> reporter: he sometimes struggled with the tensions of his job. officials from tokyo electric power company released video of a conference call that took place three days after the accident. he exchanged some harsh words with officials from tepco and the prime minister's office. he did things his own way. at one time, officials in the prime minister's office told him to stop injecting seawater into one of the reactors. he ignored the request. in late 2011, doctors diagnosed him wit

in 2011, the nuclear accident fukushima rethreat terrorist attacks on power facilities. there is increase around the world of of the possibility of radio active substances used at hospitals and facilities used as tools of terrorism. japan's senior vice foreign minister is you suzuki is also scheduled it attend. the safe management of nuclear substances and other issues over five days. the meeting is expected to adopt a declaration that includes an agreement to hold the international conference on nuclear security every three years. >>> seat belts and automobiles are why you might call the final lifeline. they are supposed to protect people involved in traffic accidents. but recently there's been an increase in the number of injuries they caused. elderly people are pla areally vulnerable. that prompted the transport ministry to take a closer look at safety standard. nhk world explains. >> reporter: the national agency says seat belts help save lives in a traffic accident by more than 90%. researchers in tokyo are telling a different story. they conducted a study that conc

. >>> executives overseeing the fukushima daiichi plant want to restart reactors at another plant they own. officials at tokyo electric power company want permission to resume operations at reactors at niigata prefecture at the sea of japan coast but they face stiff opposition. all but two reactors in japan remain offline following the 2011 accident at the fukushima daiichi plant. reactors must meet new safety standards that go into effect this month before they can go back to operation. the governor is opposed to the plan by tepco. he says there can be no discussion about restarting the plant until the fukushima accident is thoroughly investigated. tepco's board of directors decided to apply for a government screening of the plant as soon as the new guidelines take effect. >> translator: we would like to explain to the residents why we want to make application to the government as soon as possible. >> tepco raised electricity fees last year to cover the growing cost of fuel for its thermal power plants, but it continues to struggle with a huge deficit. tepco posted more than $6.8 bill

the central government is responsible for cleanup in the fukushima prefecture. no entry zones. it is also subsidizing the work in other areas. the government has allocated 11 billion dollars. it hasn't made clear what the total cost might be. experts from the science and technology institute have studied the cost. their estimate for the no-entry zones is about $20 billion. in other areas, $31 billion. this includes the cost of handling and storing radioactive waste such as contaminated soil. >> the government should study the costs before deciding whether to complete decontamination or reallocate the money to help people rebuild their lives. >> she also says the government is doing the work without considering the expectations of residents. >>> fishermen are angry at the operators of the fukushima nuclear power plant. they have admitted that contaminated water is seeping into the ocean. about 100 fishermen attended a private briefing session by tepco. they said the spread of contamination is limited. they also explained their plan to build walls along the coast to prevent taint

the fukushima plant sees two tons of water accumulate every day due to an inflow of ground water. tepco plans to store the tainted water in other tanks while the treatment equipment is offline. they hope to put the full system into operation from next month, but they predict they'll have to delay the plan. >>> the head of japan's fisheries has launched a protest with tepco. the company has revealed that contaminated groundwater at the fukushima power plant has leaked into the sea. the organization's head visited tokyo electric power company headquarters. he handed a letter of protest to the president. >> translator: you must stop leaking contaminated water into the sea we have repeatedly asked your company to do this, but you have ignored us. we feel betrayed. >> he demanded that tepco state how it will contain water accumulating in the complex. he said the company must take immediate measures to stop the leakage. he encouraged the company to increase monitoring for radioactive substances in waters near the plant. he said he would work to comply with the request. high concentratio

the fukushima accident exposed the risks and expense associated with nuclear power. but yoshioka says japanese have become complacent. >> day by day the memory of what impression of march 11th is going back. >> reporter: the company started the process of restarting nuclear power plants, but we must not let the memories of march 11, 2011 fade regardless of our personal views on nuclear energy, it's clear that more debates on how to power the country is essential. nhk world, tokyo. >> we'll be covering a number of different issues ahead of the upper house election. on friday we'll examine the diplomatic challenges japanese leaders face from relations with the u.s. to ties with neighboring countries china and south korea. >>> prime minister shinzo abe has worked to reshape japan's economy and get back to growth. now, he's setting his sights on amending the constitution, but his party must make a strong showing in this month's upper house election so it can push its policies forward. less than a year after putting abe in power, japanese voters have a chance to judge him

the fukushima plant sees 400 tons of water accumulate every day due to an inflow of groundwater. tepco plans to store the tainted water in other tanks while the treatment equipment is offline. tepco officials hope to put the system into full operation from next month, but they predict they'll have to delay the plan. >>> the head of japan's leading national association of fisheries has launched a protest with tepco. the company recently revealed that contaminated groundwater at the fukushima power plant has leaked into the sea. the organization's head kishi visited tokyo electric power company headquarters. he handed a letter of protest to president hirose.power company . he handed a letter of protest to president hirose.electric power headquarters. he handed a letter of protest to president hirose.power company . he handed a letter of protest to president hirose. >> translator: you must stop leaking contaminated water into the sea we have repeatedly asked your company to do this, but you have ignored us. we feel betrayed. >> kishi demanded that ten poe tepco state how it will con

power company just admitted that ever since the twenty eleven earthquake radioactive water from fukushimanuclear site has been steadily leaking into the ocean as terrifying as that is many people in the u.s. will just try it off because japan is far enough away to thousand like another world but the truth is we should take heed because it does affect us and because we could be facing our own fukushima level nuclear disaster here in our own world in the not too distant future recently about eighty gallons of radioactive water from the palisades nuclear power plant were accidentally released into lake michigan officials weren't worried though because apparently the area's two nuclear power plants routinely discharge radioactive material into the air and into the lake. according to a nuclear regulatory commission official quote they would like to recycle as much as possible of the radioactive water but there is business needs and that's just part of the operating cycle. he also maintains that the regular dumping of radioactive water is quickly diluted in the lake of rock from the anti-nuclea

mpower would have ridden out a fukushima, even an incident as severe as fukushima. >> reporter: taxpayersbig stake in the outcome. the government pledged a half billion dollars for research and investment. mpower received 79 million already. critics see the nuclear version of solyndra. >> this administration is giving to the nuclear industry the potential to lose us way more money than we lost with solyndra. this is the industry, the administration picking winners and losers. >> reporter: the developers admit there are a lot of unknowns, but pledge they'll be responsible stewards of the taxpayers' perks. >> we're going to watch it closely, work hard, stop it at every point, make sure it makes sense. >> reporter: supporters of the technology say there's huge potential for exports and the jobs that would bring, but the u.s. is at risk of falling behind. the world's first modular reactors are already being built in china. bret? >> john, thank you. >>> still ahead, going after planned parenthood for something other than abortion. >>> first, hillary clinton, front and center. if you're looking

nothing unusual about it we saw it after the fukushima earthquake tidal wave nuclear power plant disaster in japan in two thousand and eleven when christine lagarde who is the french finance minister at the time led a coordinated g seven intervention to assist to strengthen start to weaken the yen actually so that this does go on all the time one of the problems that was europe is not exactly on board the clearly the u.k. japan and the u.s. are in this easing mode although the may have changed up a little bit with taper talk but europe is as not playing ball so far so it's just a mess well let's talk about the future of the global currency situation currently the u.s. dollar is the rebirth reserve currency of the world but there's been talk of reverting to s.t.r. as we're trying to you know has a part could we even see gold play a part in it. gold's a bit of a stretch i think the international monetary system will collapse sometime in the next you know three to four years that's really not meant to be a provocative statement the international monetary system has collapsed three times in t

many people in japan have demonstrations against nuclear power following the next fukushima. why that spirit of protest has faded. >> prime minister abe worked to redo the economy and get back to growth. he is setting his sights on amending the constitution, but his party must make a strong showing in the upper house election to push the policies forward. less than a year after putting abe in power, they have a chance to judge him on his record. don't miss our special coverage leading up to the july 21st election here on "newsline." . >> time for a check on the weather am people in the caribbean are dealing with the remnants of a storm that made landfall there. we have the latest. >> good morning, catherine. as you may recall, we have been tracking the storm system. tropical storm chantal. it has become a remnant low pressure system south of haiti. yesterday was the peak of the stormy conditions across the caribbean. let me show you a video. it has lost force, but it's threatening floods around the surrounding countries. fishing has been suspended because of the rough seas. t

mpower would have ridden out an incident even as severe as fukushima. no detrimental effects at all. >> now the whole construction process of these small modular reactors is different as well, melissa. typical nuclear power plants are structures of byzantine complexity. this incorporates one neat little unit made into a factory for good quality c economics oft to say mass production but multiple productions. it is replicable and put into a truck and trucked out to the site. that is the boon part. what about the boondoggle. that lies in federal subsidizing the industry for research and development. the federal government set aside half a billion dollars for r&d so farr babcock and wilcox has got en$79 million of this. this is unproven technology. it is really on the drawing board barely in the testing phrase. this led watchdog group, taxpayers for common sense to give the government a golden fleece award, we're sitting on the edge of this, us as taxpayers a nuclear solyndra that could leave taxpayers holding the bag. >> it just seems one of those things

. >>> the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant has confirmed for the first time that contaminated ground water is seeping in from the site to the ocean. it comes two weeks after they have seen a spike in contamination in the water around the plant. the fist signs were reported in may. in early july, levels of cesium jumped by about 100 times over the space of four days. at the time, officials at tokyo electric power company said they didn't have enough data to determine if contaminated ground water was leaking into the ocean. but nuclear regulators contradicted this assessment saying a leak was highly likely. tepco engineers analyzed the ground water in wells between january and july. they concluded that a drop of those levels indicates that contaminated water is leak into the ocean. >> translator: we sincerely apologize for causing concerns to so many people, particularly those who live in fukushima. >> utility officials say levels of another radioactive substance called tridium have been rising inside the facility's port. but they say the impact of the leak is limited because co

. >> woodruff: the fukushima nuclear plant-- crippled by an earthquake and tsunami two years ago-- is leaking contaminated water into the sea. we get a rare glimpse inside the still radioactive area. >> the regalia in which i'm now standing including this, a dose meter, which will give my accumulated radiation dose across the time were inside the exclusion zone. >> brown: plus, marshields and david brooks analyze the week's news. >> woodruff: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> support also comes from carnegie corporation of new york, a foundation created to do what andrew carnegie called "real and permanent good." celebrating 100 years of philanthropy at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: the defense got its final say today, for the soldier who made a massive disclosure of secret

to come -- contaminated water leaks from japan's fukushima nuclear plant and the cost of the cleanup could be five times the original estimate. and why the switch to renewable energy in germany is angering green campaigners. good to have you with us. the main stories on al jazeera. e.g.'s army chief is calling for nationwide rallies on friday for a mandate against what he calls violence and terrorism by supporters of deposed president morsi. a muslim brotherhood leader responded on facebook saying it will not stop people rallying for the ousted president. south sudan apostate president dismissed his entire cabinet over an apparent power struggle with his deputy -- south sudan's president dismissed the entire cabinet. and the australian government says it will investigate whether asylum seekers in detention camps in papua new guinea are being raped and tortured. back to our top story -- egypt's military keep calling for protests. a spokesperson for the anti-coup a lions gate was her reaction to about 5000 ec's -- al-sisi's demands. speechless, to say the least. this is an explicit cal

. >>> japan's nuclear authority orders the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant to rae move highly contaminated water from underground tunnels. >>> as leaders in pyongyang celebrate the 60th anniversary of the korean war armistice, the world waits for kim jong-un to make his next move. >>> a month's worth of rain fell in some parts of western japan on sunday. the downpour led to flooding and landslides. it killed one person with at least three others still missing. the deluge saw more than 100 pms of rain fall per hour in parts of yamaguchi prefecture. a 79-year-old woman died when her home collapsed. 200 millimeters of rain slashed the northern part of the prefecture. the downpour left many people stranded. residents in the northern part of hokkaido have also seen heavy rains. nhk world's masayo taqa reports on the disarray. >> reporter: this is how the downpours have left the cities of haggi in the prefecture. leaning and covered in mud. this underpass is completely filled with sludge. towns are covered with mud and rocks. roads are strewn with logs, lumber and other debri

experts have added up what they think is cost of cleaning up fukushima after the nuclear sdas ferter. the bill could run to $50 billion, four times the amount the japanese government has allocated. cruise base it on levels of radiation. the government is responsible for cleaning up the no-entry zones around the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant and subsidizing work in other areas. government officials have allocated about $11 billion, but they haven't said what the total cost might be. experts from a science and technology institute carried out a study. they estimated cleaning up the no-entry sdploens zones alone would cost $20 billion. they say work in other areas would add up to more than $30 billion. >> translator: the government should study the costs before deciding whether to complete decontamination. or reallocate the money to help people rebuild their lives. >> she says government officials are overseeing the work without considering the expectations of residents. researchers have been analyzing highly radioactive materials found near the nuclear plants more than two years after

the units must pass stricter safety checks put in place in response to the 2011 accident at the fukushima nuclear plant. officials at kyushu electric power company applied with the nuclear regulation authority to restart two reactorses at the genkai plant. kyushu electric officials have estimated the highest possible tsunami from two to three meters but they say no new levee is needed because the facilities are 11 meters above sea level. it brought the number of reactors under nra review to 12 at 6 plants across japan. nra experts are screening the applications to determine if the utilities have taken all necessary steps to ensure the safety of their plants. they say it will take at least six months to process each application in parallel with the new safety requirements, the utilities need to obtain the consent of local authorities before restarting a reactor. only two of the country's 50 commercial reactors remain online. >>> here's the three-day world weather forecast. >>> that concludes this edition of "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. thank you for joining us.

like to offer our deep up paula for causing grave worries for many people specially for people in fukushima and apology that's too little too late health concerns over exposure to contaminated food products are ongoing not to mention contaminated seafood an ocean life that goes far beyond japan sadly a solution to this disaster remains at a distance as tepco continues its cleanup efforts the levels of radioactivity and groundwater continue to rise and the worst part of it all that tepco has no official way of handling radioactive water which some fear it could mean the radioactive material will eventually get dumped into the ocean. it's a terrifying prospect that will undoubtedly. planet instead of having a meaningful discussion about the dangers of nuclear energy and news networks are far more concerned with how much air is on that little baby's head court of the media learning that is much more important than news that actually affects our lives and when there are so many other stories baking for attention and a distraction is one too many. still ahead on tonight's show we'll take a look

overshadowed by the royal newborn but the fact that for the last two years radioactive water from fukushima nuclear site has been leaking into the pacific ocean. continuously and just now tokyo's power company tepco finally admitted it tepco spokesperson issued a statement this week saying that quote we would like to offer our deepest apologies for causing grave worries for many people especially for people in fukushima and apology that's too little too late health concerns over exposure to contaminated food products are ongoing not to mention contaminated seafood an ocean life that goes far beyond japan sadly a solution to this disaster remains at a distance as tepco continues its cleanup efforts the levels of radioactivity and groundwater continue to rise and the worst part of it all that tepco has no official way of handling radioactive water which some fear could mean the radioactive material will eventually get dumped into the ocean. it's a terrifying prospect that will undoubtedly affect everyone on this planet instead of having a meaningful discussion about the dangers of nuclear ene

like to offer our deep up paula for causing grave worries for many people especially for people in fukushima and apology that's too little too late health concerns over exposure to contaminated food products are ongoing not to mention contaminated seafood and ocean life that goes far beyond japan sadly the solution to this disaster remains at a distance as tepco continues its cleanup efforts the levels of radioactivity and groundwater continue to rise and the worst part of it all that tepco has no official way of handling radioactive water which some fear could mean the radioactive material will eventually get dumped into the ocean. it's a terrifying prospect that will undoubtedly affect everyone on this planet instead of having a meaningful discussion about the dangers of nuclear energy and news networks are far more concerned with how much air is on that little baby's head court of the media learning that is much more important than news that actually affects our lives and when there are so many other stories begin for attention any distraction is one too many. still ahead on tonight's sho

and the recovery from the fukushima nuclear disaster has not been completed. so we talk about japan this evening, joining me from washington richard mcgregor from "the financial times" and curt campbell, until february of this year he served as assistant secretary of state for east asian and public affairs in new york ian bremmer and martin fackler tokyo bury chief for "the new york times" and just arrived in new york from tokyo. i'm pleased to have all of them here. and i begin with you, martin. tell me where is japan today? you've been a close watcher of that country recently. >> japan is at a very interesting moment. i think for 20 years they lost their mo jo, struck in neutral. they have had an old system that was very successful after world war ii. they couldn't get rid of it. they couldn't find a new system. and i think the frustration with that is building up and people want change. and they're looking for someone to bring them change. mr. abe has gone part of the way. he hasn't gone all of the way. but i think if someone can point the way for japan it

shortly after it happened and m-power would have ridden out fukushima even an incident severe as fukushimaetrimental effects at all. >> reporter: this is much smaller than a traditional plant. the entire footprint in terms of area and elevation is about the size of your average wal-mart store, jenna. the company taste it will be easier to secure than a 300-acre site in a traditional nuclear plant. jenna: you mentioned at top. there is the boon part or the boondoggle part. what about the later? >> reporter: the boondoggle part is research and development. the government set aside half a billion dollars to develop modular nukes from the ground up b and w received $79 million. taxpayers for common sense gave the whole idea a golden fleece award. that the nuclear industry is famous for expensive failures, one taxpayers should not be on the hook for. >> seems one of those things where we're throwing good money after bad. the nuclear industry is incredibly heavily subsidized. this is another way they're putting their hand out, we have a new way to survive, give us more money and we'll do it. >>