the fukushima daiichi plant entered a critical phase on march 11, 2011. officials in the plant noticed that the emergency cooling system was not working. but he wasn't informed until late that night and the reactors had already started melting down. >> i'm very regretful about this. we failed to establish a system to receive warnings from the employees on time. >> reporter: the former chief of the plant condemned tepco's head office for mishandling the crisis. the following day yoshida decided to inject water to cool it down. tepco officials wanted to delay the plan as they had yet to obtain approval. >> i remember vividly tepcoofficials told me to stop right away. i decided not to follow the orders. >> reporter: yoshida testified that tepco officials did not know what type of things were needed. >> tepco sent things that were not suitable to fix the situation. this was troublesome as we had to take time to analyze what they were. >> reporter: after radiation around the plant increased tepco head office stopped delivering the equipment and instead dropped

yochiro tatiwa, nhk world, fukushima daiichi. >>> government officials in fukushima have joined forces to promote a regional export. they are selling peaches to shoppers in thailand. [ speaking foreign language ]. at around $9 a piece, the fruit is about three times the price as in japan. at a promotional event at a department store, shoppers tried samples. many were impressed and went home with exotic peaches. >> translator: the fruit smelled good and was very sweet. my mother also liked it very much. >> peach exports from fukushima to thailand were halted after the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant in 2011. the shipments resumed in september the following year. exports have been on a rice ever since. over a ton was shipped in the year ending march 2013 and nearly two tons a year later. fukushima officials are targeting wealthy shoppers. >> translator: i was very moved to see thai people hold the peaches in their hands. i expressed my thanks to them. >> he also said he hopes the peaches bring smiles to the faces of thai people. >>> it's time to get a check of the weather

contaminated water problem is still the main issue here in fukushima daiichi. and now we're going to go out and see what's right now happening and what it is the tepco engineers are doing. next, tepco officials take me to the construction site where workers are trying out a new way to deal with the contaminated water. it is right next to the reactor buildings, and these heavy machines lined up have an important job to do. they're being used to insert these pipes, and they will reach 30 meters deep under the soil. >> between these two pipelines, there's going to be one here so that each pipe has o distance. and altogether 1.5 kilometers, which is 1,500 pipes, are going to be inserted to the soil. >> reporter: the stretch of pipes will surround the reactor buildings and coolant will be injected to create a huge ice wall. the ice is expected to block the groundwater from seeping into the buildings. i then come across something unexpected. it's a group of workers who are conducting an assessment. they say they're checking the location of underground obstacles. they

. >>> scientists at fukushima daiichi are using new technology to see what's happening at the nuclear plant without going inside. >>> the rescue workers in western japan are rushing to find people trapped in landslides. record amounts of rainfall at hiroshima loosened the ground sending several hillsides thundering intoes residential areas below. 32 people were killed, nine others are missing. the torrential rains started out in the morning and it just kept coming. more than 200 millimeters fell in two hours. that's more than the average amount for the entire month. all that rain made the ground unstable, then hillsides gave way, sending mud sliding into homes and leaving a trail of debris. firefighters and police are trying to find people swept away. the ground self-defense force has also joined the rescue operation. prime minister shinzo abe cut short his summer break to respond to the emergency. >> translator: my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of this tragedy. i'd like to extend my sincere sympathy to all those who are affected. >> abe has dispatched keiji furuya to hiro

the guidelines were changed after the 2011 fukushima daiichi meltdown. they recommend people within 30 kilometers of a nuclear plant evacuate or stay indoors in the case of an accident. earlier guidelines set the radius at 10 kilometers. experts point out the possibility of residents suffering from internal radiation exposure from plumes that spread beyond 30 kilometers. authority officials decided to study a wider zone. they'll look into which areas should be issued warnings or follow safety measures. the officials also decide to set similar zones for nuclear fuel recycling facilities on a case by case basis. >>> police in thailand are a step closer to understanding a complex case. they suspected a japanese man fathered at least 12 babies with surrogate mothers. preliminary dna tests confirmed their suspicions. police found nine babies earlier this month in the man's apartment on the outskirts of bangkok. the man claims he fathered all of them. authorities have taken 12 children into protective custody. police say preliminary results show dna matched th

. >>> and the people in charge of fukushima daiichi are asking fishermen for approval to decontaminate ground weather and release it into the ocean. >>> palestinians living in the gaza strip have woken up over the past month to the sounds of shelling. they have seen a temporary cease-fire take hold. but it's scheduled to end on friday. leaders of israel and hamas are talking about whether to extend it. the two sides are negotiating in the egyptian capital, cairo, but not face to face. egyptian mediators are serving as a go-between. they expect the two sides won't reach a deal before friday. sources close to hamas say the egyptians proposed the truce be extended for 48 hours. they say the hamas negotiators agreed to the proposal and are waiting for the israelis to respond. residents of gaza are starting to see some things return to the way they used to be. shops are open for first time in weeks. people are driving again and children are playing in the parks. people are visiting what's left of their homes. this man lost a cousin, his factory, and his home. >> translator: everything preci

an evacuation order is being lifted on an area near fukushima daiichi. some residents are happy while others have concerns. >>> kurdish forces in northern iraq are surging ahead in an operation to win control of a strategic facility. they are working to take back the largest dam in the country from sunni militants. their momentum has been fuelled by a flurry of u.s. air strikes. >> reporter: u.s. bombers, fighter planes and drones targeted the dam. they carried out 14 air strikes own sunday alone. the largest single day attack since the operation began ten days ago. they took out armored personnel carriers and vehicles. operated by islamic state militants. it helped kurdish fighters in their effort take back the dam. the islamic state seized it and kept it running. the facility provides water and electricity for much of the region. people feared the militants would destroy it. president obama outlined the importance of the infrastructure in a letter to congress where he explains his authorization of the air strikes. he said the failure of the mosul dam c

. >> reporter: sh woman evacuated from a town ten kilometers from fun sheem fukushima daiichi. he lives east of tokyo. he used to be a part time farmer. he lived in a house surrounded by rice and vegetable fields. >> translator: i know i can never return but i feel attached to the place because i lived there for decades. >> reporter: he gave up hope of returning. he decided to set until a new cities 150 kilometers from his hometown. he bought an old house last year. he made the decision for his grandchildren. his four grandchildren live outside fukushima as evacuees. they don't know anything about it. he says he wanted to give them a new hometown. he worries if he can fit in with his new determined to build ties in the community. >> translator: i've convinced myself that a new chapter of my life starts here. >> reporter: but some people are not as fortunate as he is. they have no option but to continue living in their temporary housing. this woman also evacuated from the area. her husband passed away after the disaster. she takes care of her mother and father who live in the sa

a new report reveals more of what happened at the fukushima daiichi plant three and a half years ago. >>> and a gunman opens fire at a military academy in afghanistan, killing a high-ranking american officer. >>> every year people from all walks of life gathered in hiroshima to remember and reflect. they attend a memorial marking the day an atomic bomb left the city in ruin. more than 290,000 people died either in 1945 or the years since. nhk world's takafumi terui shows us how their legacy are being honored. >> reporter: rain poured down on hiroshima peace memorial park. still, people came. the survivors were among them. >> translator: when i look back at what happened, i just can't hold back my tears. i keep thinking, why, why? >> translator: i came here to pass on the horrors of war and memories of the bombing to my children's generation. >> reporter: and that's why many others gathered here too. by the time the ceremony started, about 45,000 people had packed into the park. u.s. ambassador caroline kennedy was among the representatives from 68 countries. at 8:15 a.m., participants

the fukushima district court acknowledged causal links between the accident at the fukushima-daiichi nuclear plant and suicide. it ordered tepco to pay nearly half a million dollars in damages. the presiding judge said the accident caused the woman great mental anguish. the evacuationye was forced to leave home after the nuclear accident. when she was allowed to return for a short visit in 2011, she doused herself in gasoline and set herself on fire. watanabe's home is 35 kilometers from the nuclear plant. the area is a designated evacuation zone. her husband and three children say her death was caused by depression. they say as evacuee she faced an uncertain future. tepco offered condolences and says it will study the ruling and respond to it. the government says 130 suicides are linked to the 2011 earthquake and nuclear accident. courts are now reviewing two other cases. over 125,000 people still cannot return to their homes. thousands are suing tepco and the government for damages. >>> japan's prime minister is set to renew his team. shinzo abe has confirmed he will reshuffle his

. >> 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

as well so some some recent news is that during the clearing of the rubble at unit three at fukushima daiichiwhich was the largest explosion back in march of two thousand and eleven this rubble clearing took place in august of two thousand and thirteen huge releases of radioactivity in the form of dust that down blew downwind again about fifty miles away contaminating rice crops and people were eating it and only you know recently a year later have the authorities admitted that they have these huge releases and so local mayors local farmers are outraged and cesium contamination radioactive cesium contamination of monkeys in humans is important because cesium goes to muscle tissue and the body thinks it's potassium that's right so there's an oscar award winning short documentary from twelve years ago now called turn all the heart it's about the children of bruce and ukraine who live near term noble who are born with heart defects holes in the heart and it's the radioactive cesium causes that it's basically because the heart is the largest and most active muscle in the body it's concentrating l

. >>> the operator of the damaged fukushima fukushima daiichi power plant wants to apply for a permit to build facilities for a plan. the firm is building an iron barrier as part of the system. engineers of the company say they want to pump up water from the ground and wells near reactor buildings so they plan to decontam nate it. fishermen say it could spark harmful rumors about the safety of the marine resources. >>> the top diplomats from the u.s. and china have argued over territorial issues in the south china sea. u.s. secretary of state john kerry and chinese foreign minister wang yi were taking part in discussions at the asean regional forum in myanmar. the chinese are caught up in a number of disputes over territory. some delegates quoted kerry as saying unilateral action is destabilizing the region. he supported a proposal from delegates from the philippines to introduce a moratorium on activities that could escalate tensions. foreign minister wan said the involvement of some countries from outside the region is confusing the situation. and he said it will take time to consid

he begins his report from the zone surrounding the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, where emergencyre struggling to restore cooling 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?

." >>> workers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant are busy 0 checking the safety of one of the damaged reactor buildings. they had earlier tried to remove wreckage from the site but dropped it into a pool holding more than 500 nuclear fuel rods. officials with tokyo electric power company say the incident took place shortly after noon on friday at the number 3 reactor building. the workers were using a remotely operated crane to lift a control console when it slipped. the device weighs 400 kilograms. the officials say they've detected no change in radiation levels near the pool or the plant's monitoring post. they also say no one was injured. the number 3 reactor building was badly damaged by the hydrogen explosion that destroyed the plant in 2011. its fuel pool is still littered with wreckage. >>> more bad news for people at japan's most prestigious research institute, riken. first, papers written by riken scientists on a new type of stem cell were debunked by the scientific community and retracted. now the science ministry has decided to cut its budget request by nearly 20%. ministry

. >>> some people who used to live near fukushima daiichi are planning to organize tours of their hometown. they want to keep memories of the nuclear accident three years ago alive. authorities designated seven municipalities around the plant as part of a no-entry evacuation zone. people need permission to enter the area, but some from the town of okuma have gotten approval to show visitors what's become the place where they used to live. they say participants would wear protective gear and would see the no-entry zone from inside a bus. the visitors would be checked afterwards for exposure to radiation. >> translator: i want people to come and see the reality. i hope they'll stop and think about what happened and share their thoughts with friends and others around them. >> members of the group plan to operate the tour once a month starting in october. >>> other people in northeastern japan are also trying to move on from the disaster while remembering all that was lost. one woman is demonstrating that spirit of recovery through her artwork. she's taken kimono from the ruins and given them

. >>> the people in charge of fukushima daiichi are looking for approval from local fishermen.want to discharge contaminated water from the nuclear plant at the ocean. highly radioactive water is seeping into the soil and mixing with groundwater. experts estimate about 200 tons of contaminated water leaks into the ocean every day. engineers with tokyo electric power company are building an iron barrier along an embankment to try to contain the problem. tepco officials planned to pump the water out. then they will use a decontamination system they are building to remove radioactive substances. officials say the barrier in the new system will be completed next month. but they have limited capacity and storage tanks to hold all the water at the plant. so they want to release some of the treated water into the ocean. they also want to decontaminate, then release ground water that's been collecting in wells near reactor buildings. the officials say they explained the plan to members of the fukushima prefecture fisheries association and they will try to get approval from the local fi

. >>> the people in charge of the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant have decided to scrap a decontamination system that's been marred by problems. they haven't been able to use it for nearly three years. officials at french nuclear energy firm areva designed the system to treat radioactive water. engineers with tokyo electric power company installed it shortly after the nuclear accident in march 2011. workers used it for three months and treat 76,000 tons of water but they found it broke down too often. and tepco officials say the equipment poses a risk to the workers. they say after processing all that water it becomes too radioactive. they say they'll apply to the nuclear regulation authority for permission to scrap it. but won't reveal how much it cost. >>> tepco officials are testing out their latest strategy to deal with the buildup of contaminated water. they want to treat it then release it into the pacific ocean. engineers are starting a trial operation to pump up groundwater from wells from near the reactor buildings. they're looking at a new treatment system to see how effective i

also, we have been pleading to tepco, the energy company that owned the fukushima daiichi power plantto find a way to support healthwise and also financially the people that were victims of the accident. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: currently in japan there are 54 nuclear reactors. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: currently, none of them are operating. but as you can imagine, nuclear power plant companies and other industries are pushing for industries are pushing for re-opening nuclear reactors right now. there's a very difficult situation between local municipalities who are against re-opening nuclear power plants, and the policy of the nation who are willing -- who is willing to re-open the mu clenuclear react. thank you. [ applause ] >> we have about three minutes left. we still have new york harbor school and young girl leadership school. do you have designated hl0kççÑ h ljr the questions are close enough that we can field both. if not, we're sunk. >> i was wondering what some other methods you guys suggest for solving conflict besides nuclear weapons

>> of course, especially with what happened at the fukushima daiichi power plant, we were very sensitive to whavs happening. we strongly believe that new collar power plants and nuclear weapons are both sides of one coin. so we would really, really like for the world to change to natural energy. also, we have been clean to tepco, the energy company, that owned the power plant, to find a way to support hemtwise and also financially the victims of the accident. >> currently in japan, there are 54 nuclear reactors. currently, none of them are operating. but as you can imagine, nuclear -- nuclear power plant companies and other industries are pushing for reopening nuclear reactors right now. >> there's a different situation between local against reopening nuclear power plants and policy of the nation who is willing the reopen the nuclear reactors. thank you. >> we've about three minutes left. we still have new york harbor school and young women's leadership school. do you guys have questions, answers and maybe they're close enough we could field both. if not, we're sunk. >> i was wondering w

the quake didn't do much damage to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power station, but the tsunami shutarted to melt down. hydrogen gases inside the buildings then exploded, spreading radiation into communities more than 25 miles away. today, in the town of tomioka, the radiation levels are considered safe enough to allow people in during the day. loudspeakers warn visitors that they must leave by 3:00 p.m. we were alone on the day we were there. the disaster seems to have stopped time. the clock shows 2:46, the moment the earthquake hit, and the damage to shops and homes looksuld have happened yesterday. the stack of newspapers we found were dated march 12, 2011, the day after the quake and tsunami. you can see people had to leave in a hurry. that was the morning the government told people of this town and neighboring towns to get out quickly. "welcome to okuma," says the sign. population today, three years later: zero. more than 11,000 people left town that day and never returned. would you ever want to go back to okuma to live there again? >> norio kimura ( translated ): yes, i would

a japanese court has ordered the operator of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant to pay damages to the family of a woman who killed herself after she was forced to evacuate due to radiation. tepco will pay the family the equivalent of $470,000. it is the first time a court has ordered tepco to pay damages for the 2011 nuclear meltdown. a new report has revealed 1400 children were sexual he is exploited over 16 years in a single british town. the report's author found leaders in the town knew of the abuse years ago, but failed to act. >> it is hard to describe the appalling nature of the abuse the child victims suffered. they were raped by multiple perpetrators. they were trafficked to other cities. they were beaten and intimidated. they were examples of children being doused with petrol and threatened to be satellite. they were threatened with guns. brutally violent rapes and threatened they would be next. the unitedaft of nations report warns climate change could become irreversible if greenhouse gas emissions go unchecked. the report from the intergovernmental panel on climate

japan, our science correspondent miles o'brien has returned several times to the site of the fukushima daiichier plant, including a trip inside its hazardous exclusion zone. we've created a documentary from his reports that includes a never-before seen tour of fukushima's sister plant, which narrowly escaped the same calamity. watch that video, on our science page. all that and more is on our web site, newshour.pbs.org. >> woodruff: and again, to our honor roll of american service personnel killed in the afghanistan conflict. we add them as their deaths are made official and photographs become available. here, in silence, are five more. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. tomorrow, we mark the 40th anniversary of president richard m. nixon's resignation and examine how it changed american history and politics. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. we'll see you on-line, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> charles schwab, proud supporter of the p