the village is about 40 kilometers northwest of fukushima daiichi. high levels of radiation there are keeping him away from his home. he lives with his parents in a nearby city. >> translator: in the early days of the nuclear crisis, radiation levels were very high in the rain gutters around here. >> reporter: late last month, workers hired by the government decontaminated his home. they followed government guidelines as they scraped away topsoil and ripped out weeds. they pack the waste into plastic bags and carried it away. the radiation level of the waste was very high. yamaguchi was disappointed with the results. the level on his property was still twice the target, even after the decontamination. he thinks there won't be another chance to clean up his property. >> translator: i feel like the government is just going through their motions. but the objective of the process should be to ensure safety for the people who want to return without fear. >> reporter: central government officials have been trying to gain support for their guidelines. >> tr

. >>> and we go inside fukushima daiichi to look at the struggles and risks workers face on a daily basis to prepare the damaged nuclear plant for decommissioning. >>> for nearly two decades, a thorn in the side of japan-u.s. relations. prime minister shinzo abe has met with the okinawa governor to try to persuade him to approve the reclamation of land to build a new air base in the northern part of the prefecture. nakima is ready to hear the proposal. nhk world has more. >> reporter: prime minister abe wants to move the marines to a new base in northeastern okinawa. nakima has been strongly opposed to the idea. he wants the government to come up with a plan that eases the burden on his prefecture. futenma air base was built in 1955. it's now home to about 4,000 u.s. marines, but its urban location has been a source of con flix. people living nearby says it puts them at risk. in 1996, the u.s. and japan agreed to move the base elsewhere. many people in okinawa want it moved out of the prefecture. they insist that other areas of japan should share the burden of hosting military bases. u.s.

. >>> the japanese government has a new plan to help people affected by the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident rebuild their lives. >>> fighting between rival military forces is spreading in south sudan. japan's peacekeepers are helping civilians seeking refuge in the capital juba. >>> and on "nuclear watch," we look at the impact the fukushima accident is having on the forests and the consequences of not cleaning them up. >>> japanese prime minister shinzo abe is trying to make life easier for people affected by the 2011 nuclear accident in fukushima. he and his cabinet approved fresh guidelines to boost the reconstruction effort and help people settle in new communities if they need to. >> translator: the reconstruction of fukushima is essential for japan's revitalization. more than 100,000 residents are still forced to live away from their homes because of the nuclear accident. our mission is to help them get back their regular lives as soon as possible. >> the government plans to increase compensation for residents who want to rebuild or renovate their homes when evacuation orders

the company plans to decommission the fukushima daiichi plant and deal with its contaminated water. >> translator: we think it's our top priority to take full responsibility for the fukushima accident. >> hirose said the company will keep itself clean and accept responsibility. will remain key to the plan, but these reactors can be restarted only after government safety inspections and approval by local authorities. there's still a possibility that the reactors may not go back online. >>> let's get a check of the markets now. first to currencies where the dollar is maintaining a pretty firm tone against the yen. it had topped 105 yen in tokyo trading. right now we've got it at 104.82 roughly. gains and local equities prompted investors to sell japanese currency and buy up the dollar. 144.76, the highest level in more than five years. european shares are trading higher, sustaining positive sentiment now. london is up by 0.6 of a percent. frankfurt gaining about three-quarters of a percent. earlier in asian trading, stocks ended mostly higher. tokyo's nikkei went up for an eighth straig

it will support evacuees returning to their home near the fukushima daiichi plant. he says his top priority is reviving the economy and rebalancing the budget. >> translator: execution of these measures is needed to put the economy on a solid recovery path. >> the cabinet says the stimulus measures will boost japan's gross domestic pattern by 1% and create a quarter million jobs. the government plans to endorse the budget next week to finance the package. >>> japan's economic revitalization minister says he has cancer. the minister in front of the free trade talks under the transpacific partnership says he will not attend the upcoming meeting. he said a medical examination found an early stage of cancer on his tongue. he had been hospitalized for testing since monday after complaining of poor health. he said his doctors said he can go back to work after two weeks in the hospital for an operation and one or two weeks at home for recuperation. amari says he told prime minister abe he would like to resign, but abe urged him to overcome his illness and continue in his p

. >>> workers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant are responding to the latest in a long line of problems. they are painting a protection coat on barriers around the storage tanks to stop radioactive water from leaking out. tokyo electric power company workers found water seeping from the barriers at four spots on the weekend. workers said water was leaking at cracks at other locations. workers suspect cold weather caused cracks to widen. they plan to apply protective coating around barriers. tepco said three tons of water seeped out at the leak. they said radiation may have exceeded safety standard but officials said no way water could have reached the sea because there's no drainage ditches nearby. >>> ayu sweet fish made a comeback. the tsunami severely damaged the local fishery. the fish raised in a hatchery in ofunato. it washed much of it away but resumed operations in september. workers moved 100,000 sweet fish from the hatchery to a truck. they transported to another city. production there is taking place on a trial basis and shipments from the hatchery expected to be

it's under way right now in japan at the fukushima daiichi power plant. >> radio active water is still poisoning the sea around the plant. this is more than two years after the nuclear disaster. but in a new report, inspectors point to two important things right now happening. nuclear fuel being removed from one of the four damaged reactors, also radio active leakage is being reduced. >> anna coren has gotten very close to the recovery work there. closer than any other journalist. she takes us deep inside the nuclear plant to explain the risky clean-up operation in this cnn exclusive. >> we are here inside reactor 4 at the fukushima daiichi power plant that was severely crippled during the earthquake and tsunami of 2011 leading to the country's worst nuclear disaster. it was in here where there was that massive hydrogen explosion that severely damaged the building, that this was the least damaged of the four reactors because it was under maintenance and it wasn't actually operating. well, now, two and a half years later, tepco says it's reached a milestone. that massive crane behind me

. >>> engineers at the crippled fukushima daiichi plant have identified why the number 3 reactor experienced a meltdown after the 2011 disaster. they say the accident likely resulted from the early breakdown of the cooling system and failed attempts to inject water. the plant's number 1, 2, and 3 reactors suffered meltdowns. at reactor number 3, the meltdown began about 10:30 a.m., march 13th, two days after the earthquake and tsunami. engineers with tokyo electric power company say the latest findings suggest that part of the fuel was exposed because the water level inside the reactor was too low. this indicates the functions of the emergency cooling system had already been lost by early morning. their report also says firefighters began to douse the reactors with water shortly after 9:00 a.m. they say that may have been ineffective because of leaks from the piping. tepco officials say they will continue to investigate why massive amounts of radioactive substances were released and how it happened. >>> now we have ron madison with the latest in biz news. ron? >> thanks a lot, gene. we're he

at ending nuclear power generation in the 2030s t came after the 2011 nuclear accident at the fukushima daiichi plant. all nuclear reactor plants in japan are currently offline. the new policy contains no mention of a plan to rebuild a nuclear power plant, with the government to construct more reactors. the draft says japan aims to promote renewable energy as a promising domestic resource over the next three years or so. the government plans to approve the new energy policy early next year. >>> on to markets now, european equities bouncing back from recent losses, the rebound is due to bargain hunting today in part. investors also receive news that germany's central bank raised next year's growth forecast to 1.7%. it seems to be giving a bit of a boost to the markets now, london is up by 0.4%, frankfurt gaining being 0.5%, and paris's cac is up 0.25%. tokyo's nikkei rose after two consecutive days of heavy loss, hang shy declined 0.4% ahead of the release of chinese economic data and jakarta hit a three-month low. thaila thailand's key index loss over 1%, it was the worst performer in the regio

after the nuclear accident at the fukushima daiichi plant in 2011, tepco raised the rates to cover losses. the hike averaged about 8.5% per household and 17% for companies. the utility plans to lower electricity rates in stages and say the cuts will total about $10 billion a year in about ten years. tepco officials think they will be able to reduce the electricity bills by reactivating all seven reactors at a plant in niigata prefecture in the next seven years. all reactors there are now offline. officials also plan to replace old thermal power plants with more efficient facilities. tepco aims to include these steps in a ten-year business strategy it plans to draw up by year's end. >>> ministers and business leaders from japan and 20 arab league states are meeting in tokyo at the japan economic forum. trade and investment between japan and those countries does remain at low levels, except in the crude oil and natural gas industries and both sides want to change that. nhk world reports on some of the challenges that they face. >> people from japan and arab nations are taking part in the fo

. >>> it's been almost three years since the fukushima daiichi nuclear accident, but people in the area still fear the risk of cancer and other illnesses caused by consuming contaminated food and drink. more than 320,000 people in the prefecture have already been tested for internal contamination with a device called the whole body counter, but the device was designed to test adults. it can't be used for infants, because they are too small. in response to this problem, scientists developed a new testing device for babies. nhk reports. >> reporter: tests for radiation exposure for infants began at a hospital. over 30 families showed up for the tests. >> translator: i have been so worried. i've been waiting a long time for my baby to be checked. >> translator: i don't know what will happen when my baby grows up, so i'd like this checkup. >> reporter: umi lives 80 kilometers from the nuclear plant. she has long been worriy eied a the effects of the radiation on her three daughters. the youngest is 6 months old. >> translator: i'd feel safer if my baby were checked at a younger age. >> repo

the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant in japan.s the site of that nuclear meltdown just two years ago. and after that terrifying tsunami that zoeft devastated so much of japan, no one is allowed to go anywhere near fukushima to this day. but plant operator, tepko, recently invited cnn correspondent anna korin to inspect the site even as they begin the precarious process of trying to remove nuclear fuel rods from this plant. >> we've been given suits, a mask, gloves, as well as a hat because no skin can be exposed. we're also carrying dosinators which will measure external radiation levels for us. >> you heard her say no skin can be exposed. just looking at what anna and her photojournalists had to wear to protect them from this radiation, even with all of this protective clothing there were still places that the radiation levels were so dangerously high that anna and her team were simply not allowed inside. but i want you to take a look at what happened when she did go in. >> 2 1/2 years later, tepko says it's reached a milestone,

she believes her health issues are a result ofrada the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. s one of dozens of members of the u.s. military who say they became sick from radiation during their rescue efforts during the 2011 fukushima nuclear disaster. 51 in all are part of a lawsuit filed earlier this year against the tokyo electric power company which operates the fukushima daiichi plant. >> this was an accident waiting to happen. if a nuclear reactor cannot withstand an earthquake and it's located in a certain location, the tepco people are responsible. >> the judge dismissed the original lawsuit because of procedural issues but gave the plaintiffs until january 6th to make changes to the lawsuit and have her reconsider it. the suit claims that tepco created an impression that the pressure of the radiation leaked was at levels that would not pose a threat to the plaintiffs an the alleged misrepresentation prompted rescuers, including the plaintiffs, to rush in to an unsafe area. abc news reached out to tepco but has not received a response. aditi roy, los angeles. >>> finge

. >> we are here inside reactor four at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant that was crippled in in 2011 leading to the country's worst nuclear disaster. it was in here there was that massive hydrogen explosion that damaged the building. this was the least damaged of the four reactors because it was under maintenance and it wasn't actually operating. now, two and a half years later, they say it has reached a milestone. that massive crane behind me is successfully moving 1500 fuel rods in the cooling pool to a storage pool next door. it's a slow and delicate process that will take about a year, but once finished, it will mean this reactor can be discomumissioned. attention will turn then to reactors one, two, and three that suffered far more dangerous. levels of radiation are dangerously high. workers have begun removing debris, but the cleanup insid the reactors is a long way off. officials here say the entire plant won't be decommissioned for at least 40 years. as for the future of nuclear power in japan, no one really kn knows. more than 50 reactors have been shut down with the