fukushima power plants. an nhk helicopter has been taking footage of what appears to be white smoke billowing from the fukushima daiichi power plant. the footage was taken -- this footage, you can see, was taken around 30 minutes ago from 30 kilometers from the nuclear power plant. nhk helicopter was positioned more than 30 kilometers from the nuclear power plant. officials at tokyo electric power plant say they cannot confirm, but judging from the footage it could have been coming from a reactor, but which we reactor we have no information yet. they say it might have been water vapor, steam as an explosion but will make detailed inspections. officials say that workers can not go outside to inspect it. the japanese government has raised the permissible level of radiation exposure for workers at the affected nuclear plant. the present rules do not allow workers to approach the storage pool in the number four reactor building because of the high radiation readings. the health ministry announced the revision on wednesday. the previous radiation limb has been raised 2.5 times to 250 millisieverts. they say this is lower th

nhk has obtained high resolution photographs of fukushima daiichi plant. they were taken an unmanned plane on march 20th and 24th, and they show the devastation caused by the tsunami and hydrogen explosions. the photos were taken by an aerial survey firm for the plant's operator, tokyo electric power company. the photo taken near the number 4 reactor shows that pump trucks connected by hoses in a line that stretches from the pier to the first four reactors. a professor at university of tokyo graduate school has studied the photos and explained what we can learn from them. >> translator: we brought some of those photographs. these are the photos taken on the 20th. what can you interpret from this? you can see the four reactors from 1 to 4, and it's a very clear photograph. we can observe how severely damaged they are. >> the number 2 reactor, 1, 2, 3 are all the same, but we keep up hearing the term "trench." where is the trench? >> yes, there is a pit connected with a trench, and usually it is covered with a building but this swept with the wave. >> this h

nhk world. this is "newsline" for 11:00 a.m. japan time. >>> video footage from the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant shows what appears to be steam or smoke rising from four reactor buildings. this footage was shot from an nhk helicopter at around 7:00 a.m. on thursday from a distance of over 30 kilometers from the plant. what appears to be steam was rising from the number one reactor building for the first time. 'steam was also seen riding from the buildings of the number 2, number 3, and number 4 reactors. the nuclear and industrial safety agency says that steam was rising from the four reactors as of 10:00 a.m. and that all of it was colorless. at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant, work to cool down the storage pool after reactor building has been resumed. on wednesday, black smoke was seen rising from the number 3 reactor building. for safety reasons, work was suspended on restoring the cooling systems of reactor buildings one through four. the nuclear and industrial safety agency says at five 5:35 a.m. on thursday, the black smoke could no longer be seen. >> about the spent fuel pool on march 23rd, from 11:03 t

nhk world, and this is "newsline" for 11:00 a.m. japan time. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. >>> traces of plutonium have been detected in soil samples from the compounds of the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. the operator of the plant, tokyo electric power company, says the level detected is very low and does not pose a threat to human health. the government said it will conduct further monitoring to see its possible effects. >> translator: concentration of the detected plutonium is comparable to the environmental fallo fallout, it is comparable to the level that will be found in our environment. however, if you look at the types of plutonium, the composition is different from the general fallout. because of this we believe this plutonium is likely to come from the reactor. higher level of plutonium, we need to take additional measures, so our intention for now is to continue on with the monitoring on the site. >>> chief cabinet secretary edano also said the fact that plutonium was detected proves that fuel rods had temporarily melted down in the reactor and that this is a grave situation. he said the government is making all-out efforts to prevent further possible eff

nhk world and this is "newsline" for eleven a.m. japan time. friday marks two weeks since the mass i have earthquake and tsunami hit northeastern japan causing heavy damage to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. workers at the plant have to deal with high radiation levels as efforts to restart cooling systems in the athe reactor buildings. on thursday, three workers were take on the the hospital after being exposed to a high level of radiation. two of the men could be suffering from so-called beta burns. they are similar to regular burns but it could be several weeks before their severity and complications are known. the workers were standing on a flooded basement floor when they tried to reconnect power lines in the turbine building next to the number three reactor building. the radiation level on the surface of the water was 400 millisieverts. the maximum level of radiation exposure allowed for nuclear plant workers in japan is 100 millisieverts, but a health and labor ministry has recently raised the limit to 250 millisieverts for emergency crews at the fukushima plant. >>> translator: presuming the radiation level will be low enough the night of 24th, the workers did

nhk news line. i'm in tokyo. we are waiting for defense minister who is about to hold a news conference to explain the helicopter operation to pour water on the reactor buildings at the fukushima daiichi power plant which has just been operated. right now you are looking at the defense ministry where there is about to be a press conference to explain the operation pouring water on the fukushima daiichi power plant. two japan self defense forces helicopters have sprayed water on the reactor building at the fukushima daiichi power plant. tokyo police guard will use a water cannon truck to spray water from the outside to cool the storage fuel. each helicopter is capability of carrying 7.5 tons of sea water. the operation was held at around 9:48, 9:52, 9:54 a.m. and also 10:00 a.m. on thursday morning. due to radiation levels, though, the operation should be conducted from a minimum altitude and limited to 40 minutes per helicopter per day. on wednesday, a white plume was seen rising from a reactor building at the fukushima daiichi power plant. tokyo electric power company says water in a storage pool intended to cool spent fuel apparently evaporated from the vapor has the cooling system