the recent assessment shows no sign of contamination, reassuring to the acme oyster house. >> the oysterserful, wonderful. >> reporter: the manager says images of oil gushing into the gulf cost acme customer and profits. but one year later, the restaurant business is rebounding. but the oil spill hit oyster fishermen hardest. >> i had plans to build this so i could turn it over to my son. and i don't see that happening now. >> reporter: and the wholesalers, the crisis is far from over. randall pinkston, cbs news, empire, louisiana. >>> this morning, new guidelines on detecting alzheimer's disease, i'm betty nguyen, this is "cbs morning news." alzheimer's disease, i'm betty nguyen, this is "cbs morning news." but we still may suffer from nasal allergy symptoms. they can hit you year round... indoors or out. achoo! oh to have relief. prescription nasonex is clinically proven to help relieve nasal allergy symptoms... including congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. [ female announcer ] side effects may include headache, viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds, and coughing. infectio

for instance, take louisiana's oyster farmers. last year was awful, their harvest plunged more than half. the smallest catch since 1966. and they've yet to win back many of the customers they lost after the spill. for gulf seafood, the perception problem begins right at the water's edge. we first met dean blanchard last may. on grand isle, louisiana, his company is the gulf's largest shrimp processor and now karen hopkins, his own bookkeeper, refuses to eat them. >> they don't look the same. they don't smell the same. i won't eat it. i won't feed it to my family. and i recommend, you know, that no one eats it. >> reporter: many americans who eat seafood agree. b.p. oil and gulf water still don't mix. in a recent survey of national restaurants, half of all customers had unfavorable views of gulf seafood, despite government assurances. in this mississippi lab, government scientists test gulf fish from the spill zone for 12 hydrocarbons. known carcinogens found in oil. 10,000 fish tested here since last april, no red flags. >> we are

they had a couple oyster camps there. people had grape trellises.nimals growing out there and everything else. now, its pylons. >> reporter: mike ustler, b.p.'s chief operating officer for the gulf restoration organization, insists the remediation being done is effective. >> we've worked many differing angles of efforts to identify the best way to accomplish a multitude of both cleaning and removing the residual oils, ensuring that migratory birds are not impacted by the potentials for flying in and trying to nest in those areas, and remove that residual hydrocarbon in a way that preserves and protects those marshes to allow them to regenerate. this has been the most effective and best method, as agreed to by a wide range of environmental scientists. >> reporter: coastal erosion is nothing new in louisiana. it's arguably the most serious environmental threat to the entire region. what worries people here so deeply is whether or not oil in the marsh will cause it to happen that much more quickly. maura wood is the senior outreach coordinator for the

together, the two agencies have tested more than 9,000 shrimp, oysters, and fish. they say they've found no evidence of contamination. joe jewell is the assistant director for the mississippi department of marine resources. his office has also done tests and found no safety problems. still, he understands consumer concern. >> it was a very large oil spill that occurred, and some of the public still has issues with that. but we embrace that, and we want the public to understand that we understand that and we still have a little bit of homework to do. >> reporter: part of that homework includes a new public relations campaign with billboards and flyers promoting the safety of gulf seafood. help is also coming from men and women in uniform. a couple of months ago, the defense department started stocking some commissaries with gulf fish, shrimp, and oysters. christopher burns, sales director for the defense commissary agency, says the goal is to get gulf fish and shell fish in all 249 commissaries here and abroad. >> we thought what a great opportunity-- if we could ad

i'm the oyster lease owner here. i want to know what's going on. no one called me to let me know what's going on. >> go out over there and i'll talk to you. >> no, i'm staying right here, because this is my lease. >> reporter: when cvitanovich refused to move away, another boat approached, carrying a young man who appeared to be a member of the u.s. coast guard. sir, good afternoon! >> how you doing? >> i'm all right. how are you? >> i don't know. you tell me. >> i've been requested by the site worker that you maintain a 150 feet. >> hold on a second, sir. i own all these oyster leases here. i've got 1,150 acres all up in here. i've got no cooperation from you whatsoever. >> reporter: cvitanovich says he was specifically promised he'd have advance notice when b.p. would come into his area. >> this is bull. i cant even go to see my leases. "stay away, buh, buh, buh!" you know, get away from here. get away from here." do i tell you to get away from your driveway in your house? do i stop this man from fishing? >> reporter: we're told that what happene

week now to go before britain's royal wedding, the london subway system, the under ground is selling oyster cards with the couples picture on them. the oyster card is like a clipper card here to board the train system. >>> the palace hotel in san francisco is hosting a royal wedding watch party. tickets cost $45 for the party on saturday morning. that includes breakfast and highlights. or you can stay like me and stay in your pjs and watch the royal wedding live on ktvu. staying in your jammies is not a bad thing to do when it's raining outside. is it going to be a pjs type weekend. >> it will, it won't be a wash out. there's still a lot of clouds in the forecast tomorrow. right now it's kind of mild out there. cloudy in san jose and in oakland. temperatures are just in the upper 50s. we did see some low 60s today but it's definitely be a mild day to say the least. the forecast as we go into tonight. more clouds. i mentioned it last night but we've been talking clouds. partly cloudy is the watch word. mostly cloudy at times. even a chance of sprinkles as we roll into saturday. i think tomor

. >> reporter: mitch is harvesting oysters again, but sales are slow. >> if we can get back to 30% of what we normally did, we'll be -- i know it's crazy to say this. somewhat satisfied, because at least we can do something and pay the bills. >> these are the tar balls they're talking about. >> reporter: he met with president obama on his first trip to the gulf and listened to his promises. >> you will not be abandoned. >> just getting our share of it back. >> reporter: now? >> i don't know if there's really much he can do. kick fineberg in the butt and tell him to get off your butt. >> reporter: among the many questions, what's behind the fourfold increase in dolphin deaths. this doctor tracks the strandings in mississippi and alabama, 86 so far this year, 67 babies. >> it is very unusual. it was very concerning. >> reporter: but there are no answers yet. the government won't reveal any results because of the ongoing criminal investigation into the spill. dr. samantha joy of the university of georgia is looking at the effects of a layer of oil her team found on the bottom of the gulf

but 101 is horrible, southbound backed up all the way to oyster point boulevard and northbound backed up into san mateo to highway 92. you can imagine how this is dominod on the millbrae city streets, as well. so right now, we're still going to tell you to use 280 until they get these lanes open which they hope to open shortly just in from the chp. >> all right. sheryl raines, thank you. >>> most of the bay area is sweating out the unseasonably warm weather but tonight, three south bay home owners are dealing with the aftermath of the recent storms. that's because their mobile homes are now on the edge of crumbling hillsides. this is at the sahara village mobile home park on mountain view. those home owners have now been evacuated. len ramirez reports on what's in store for them and their homes. len. >> reporter: well, elizabeth, this is the situation that the mobile home park has known about for some time and they have been trying to get a retaining wall built because they are on the banks of stevens creek. they were in the process of doing that when the storms hit and the land gave

oyster adams is the immersion school that hundreds of parents, rich and poor, want for their kids. starting in preschool, half the day is spent in spanish, half in english. the principal says she's seen firsthand the difference pre-k can make, especially for underprivileged kids. >> you absolutely need a rigorous school experience before kindergarten to be on the same playing field as your peers. >> reporter: but research out today suggests that state funding for preschool education is on the decline. nationwide, state per-student spending for preschoolers averaged $4,028 in 2010. $114 less than 2009. $700 less than in 2001. today the education secretary argued we're shortchanging our kids. >> i simply think we can't win the future by cheating children at the starting line. >> reporter: without preschool researchers say the most at-risk kids enter kindergarten already 12 months behind. the social and academic delays can snowball. >> if you get to third grade and you're a year behind, if you get to sixth grade and you're a year or two years behind, you're going to be a dropout. >> r

but there are fishermen that say some of their produce, the oysters, the crab, are not safe to eat.and the animals. we saw so much about these pelicans, oiled and killed. the dolphins that were stranded. the turtles. hundreds of dolphins have washed up in the past weeks and months. turtles are turning up in an alarming rate. five-times the number for this time of year. but bp, the coast guard and other federal agencies say, as far as they can tell, the gulf of mexico is oil-free. we've gone to a number of places in louisiana. when you step down into the marsh, oil comes bubbling up. and officials, wildlife officials here in louisiana, tell me there's plenty of oil out there. matt gutman, abc news, empire, louisiana. >>> actor, kevin costner, agrees that the oil there is not close to being cleaned up. he's been in the region over the past few days, trying to gain support for new cleanup machines invented by him and his brother. he wants officials to hire a fleet of barges armed with the equipment. the idea is to have them on constant standby in case of another spill. >>> charlie shee

. >> they grow everything from oysters to shiitakes to king trumpets to even something called a bear's head. and it all starts with bricks made of a blend of sawdust and rice bran that are filled into plastic bags. the bags are then carted into a high-pressure steam treatment and then taken into a clean filtered-air room where workers treat the bags with care as they introduce them to fungi spawn. after a primary growing period of 4-12 weeks, they are then taken to their private rooms to grow for another couple of weeks, depending on the variety, and then they are harvested. >> each crop is about 3/4 to a pound. and they're picked not necessarily by size but by maturity. when the mushroom's veil starts separating from the stem, or when the cap is slightly curled and the gills are all white, this is the time that the mushroom is cut. the mushroom is just hand-cut. and what we're looking for is a roundness and a nice curve to the mushroom. >> once harvested, the mushrooms are then sorted by size and quickly refrigerated to maintain freshness and quality, both traits the farm has become k

cosmonaut a surrogate of the tire watches intently as the cilia steve made twenty one spacecraft is oyster to its vertical position at only fourteen he's so certain about his future that he's already made headway and went to the u.s. and became the first youngster to spend fifteen minutes floating in the zero gravity environment haase without straining so much. as if i was to intreat i could hug my hands this early start is something the first man in space you regarding could himself have related to and his feet fifty years ago marked the beginning of a long list of achievements in manned space exploration. from walking on the route. to building the massive international space station. but it doesn't start there next possibly a hotel in orbit yet another space dream. for this hotel project there will be four rooms at the station with enough room for seven people there will be trivial luminaries so that everyone can observe the stars i've always wanted to become a cosmonaut but didn't happen but now i'm sure that one day i'll travel to space i tourist price tag is a hefty thirty five to for

nine where we still see huge areas are off the coast of mexico may grows certain fish populations oysters there still have not recovered amazing now my understanding is that b.p. has gotten a ten million dollars or ten billion dollars tax credit from the u.s. government for their expenses associated with cleaning up the gulf that we're basically paying for it and their businesses just fine for them in fact they got half the oil concessions them and the chinese company from the largest oil fields in iraq has grown into and fine is that absolutely it's business as usual and that's one of the shocking things also b.p. oil has just made the cut to be awarded a safety award over by a group over in london for their exemplary save the year it paved path that we're talking about right now of course this on the heels of trans ocean the operator of the deepwater horizon rig whose c.e.o. was awarded several hundred thousand dollars for a safety award for their exemplary safety award for the. last year it's business as usual they continue to be awarded u.s. government car tracks and continue to be a

act of trying this was reminded of jonathan swift's that it was a it was a man who ate the first oyster and what he did with this. no one else would and so it burst of. individual and certainly you know and really hundred years from now one hundred years from now. first remember. this is the movie we're in this is the one we know. so the fact that it's. an international. and it's beautiful and she was really good to exist so it's like i said the space race is over and you know we would have stopped by now that we would have been colonizing at least to the moon the rate of things were going but it's really really slow down so unless there is that type of political pressure put on something political pressure for governments to actually spend that much money on something you know are we just going to see space exploration really drastically slow down. you sure are going to put me in a bad mood. but my feeling is we've talked about this government and government funding is going to allow the commercial sector and i don't this difficult time we're going to see immigration lower cost i mean

an oyster wholesaler in new orleans. >> this cooler would typically be full of sacks of oysters, the big 100-pound sacks we normally shuck. >> reporter: at the red fish grille, business is up 10%. fewer customers now question whether gulf seafood is safe but the chefs watch every delivery. >> if it looks bad or smells bad they wouldn't serve it. we're not finding any problems with it right now. >> reporter: more good news in orange beach, alabama, and its $2 billion tourism business. the oil's mostly gone, the tourists are back. >> more people we get here to see for themselves, the more will return. >> reporter: as time goes on gulf coast communities like grand isle will rebound closer to what they were before the spill. katrina proved something, this is one part of america that can take a punch. >> they are a tough group of people down there. >> they can take a punch but they probably don't want another one. >> we will revisit what's happened with the birds and sea turtles and dolphins, one year later and the effect it's had on the ecosystem. >> and four men who were on board the de

. >> reporter: fishermen and oyster men are back on the water. rigorous testing shows it's safe. the bigger problem is convincing customers it's okay. >> the perception of our seafood is probably the biggest challenge that we have right now. >> reporter: sugar white sand glistens on the beaches and a handful of tourists have replaced the tar and more are on the way. >> bookings are way up for panhandle hotels and things like that. charter captains are doing well. so the economy is really come back and we're doing really well here. >> reporter: economically and environmentally, there is evidence the wounds from the spill are beginning to heal. >> there's no doubt that it will come back and be as robust as testifyiit was before but it will take time. >> reporter: which is why today is not the one-year anniversary of the spill but instead, the beginning of a the second year of a long recovery here. jay gray, nbc news, venice, louisiana. >>> still ahead at 6:00 with doctors in the bay area turn to gps to help fight cancer. >>> good evening. i'm chief meteorologist jeff ranieri live i

think it's north of bleaker, yeah, right above police police bleaker, and he placed ads about pickled oysters and boned turkey and was appeals to both black and white customers. president -- patrick's engravings were on bond street and patronized by the families on bond street, the white elite with last names like ward, low, ect., so these men were doing very well. wealth was not the only important thing for the black elite as i said before. one was respected, another was respectability. you had to behave in respectable ways, and as well as character, so character is the formation, the moral formation; right? of the self- and outward manifestation, if you work hard, go to church, if you treat your family well, and so forth, then it would automatically show on the outside in proper behavior, proper forms of dress, and so forth. respectability was as important, probably more important than wealth in acquiring in becoming part of the black elite. to give you a sense of -- oh, let me see, wanted to show you -- that's my great grandfather phillip white. he's the image of respectability, okay? he h

it was the best oysters from britanny, the best-- the squawws from here and there he was a fanatical about his ingredients but his cooking was precise. and honestly it blew me away. >> rose: what do you think of what's called molecular cooking? >> listen, you know what, i think there's been sort of a bifurcation in cooking these days. you've got what i consider to be a return to the basics which i cannot think what i do. and then you have the young turks or old turks or whoever they are. they are looking at flights of fancy, how to change the world. and i love that. >> rose: ferran adria and the rest. >> exactly. i went to-- in october and i hadn't been there before. and i was a little scared going there to be honest with you. i didn't know-- . >> rose: scared because you might find something you didn't know. >> i was scared that i wouldn't like it. that is really what-- i thought it was just going to be kind of, i didn't know. i had a lot of fluff and nonsense in my brain about what it was going to be like. i went there and it was gorgeous. it was ethereal it was amazing. >> rose: i

and he placed ads in the new york daily tribune that boast of such specialties as pickled oysters and bone turkey. he was appealing then to both white and black customers in patrick reasons integrating shop was on bond street and was patronized either families on bond street, the white elite with last names like ward, schermerhorn, lowell, et cetera. so these men were doing very well. wealth was not the only important thing for the black elite. as i said before. one was respect. another was respectably. you had to behave in respectable way. as well as character. so character is the formation, the moral formation, right, of the celtic and respectability is its outburst -- outward manifestation. if you're an upright moral person come if you work hard, if you go to church, if you treat your family well and so forth, then it would automatically show on the outside in proper behavior, proper forms of dress, and so forth. so respectability was as important, probably more important than wealth in acquiring come in becoming part of the black elite. to give you a sense of -- let me see. i want

scientists craig digratedl oil spill it was 65 back in october, significant declines in comeback of oystersustine: most young americans expect tougher economic times and what their parents faced. ages 18-24 to expect to have a harder time financially and raising a family and their parents did. almost half of the people made that prediction. four out of 10. only 25% expect things to be easier. 90 percent expect to be happy with their career. >> mark: we will be right back with the kron 4 morning news, weather and traffic in just a few moments. james is coming up with a check of the rain. a live look here at the san mateo bridge, westbound traffic is moving smoothly. >> mark: welcome back to the kron 4 news. a live look here at the golden gate, summertime fog, but we still get rain. >> james: we have a little less look here at the san mateo bridge, we had showers earlier this morning. it is dampier and this abaca bubba bible babble babble thisg, thinning out just a little bit as that rain has more towards the east. as we slide the maps down the delta, antioch expecting some of this system to

the reproduction of oysters is in the gulf -- the reproductive rates are weighed down -- are way down. this needs to be investigated. 5,000 feet into the water. we're used to spills the com off a ship and we can see it all on the surface. this did not happen here. this was deep in the ocean. to see how that ocean was disbursed and into t reproductive tracts of organisms and how that translated up the food chain across the marine environment is somethg that the scientific community is working hard at. it has to be studied over several seasons. we saw from the exxon the of this spill in alaska, it impacted tent and 20 years after the spill -- the exxon valdez spill. that will be ongoing. one of the main areas of recommendation of the commission was the importance of long-term monitoring to understand the consequences. just because you're not seeg oil coming out of the well head, to not assume it has vanished. host: frances beinecke served on the commission of the deepwater horizon of show -- independent scientists try to assess the environmental cost. this gets at what our guest was jus

that happened to have a lot of energy and the town of oyster, as we do normally have here on the coast -- and a ton of moisture, as we do normally have here on the coast. >> coming into this morning, it looks like things were still active. what were you seeing now around 7:30, 8:00? them and that is when we saw the frontal system that we have been watching -- >> that is when we saw the front of system we have been watching it actually passed through us. we had thunderstorms develop on that boundary, with that system. which we were expecting. we were expecting to see something develop. we did get a little bit of lightning. most of the bigger storm had passed to our south, which was fortunate. it was a transitory feature we were watching and maintaining. we expected that. it is pushing south to was currently. we have a few remnants of with clouds. we expected that also. that will clear out this afternoon, having to launch -- heading to launch time. >> tell us what the forecast is. >> clouds around 4,000 feet. good weather overall. we do have a concern. the winds are expected to come out

as part of our investigation, we collected crabs, oysters, fish, and water, along the coast of grand isle, louisiana, testing it in an independent lab. the results in our sample, no signs of oil or carcinogens. and despite fears of an environmental disaster, after billions spent by bp to remove the oil and clean the coastline, federal studies show the water here appear to be recovering. though there are still reports of oiled costlines. and many long-term effects remain unknown. our independent research came from ron kendall at texas tech. we'll be talking about the spill throughout the morning this morning. and the recovery effects. but let's take a look at the weather this morning. big-time weather to talk about. severe weather in parts of the country. a snowmaker in another part of the country. but all eyes on the possibility of a severe outbreak from little rock, to memphis, to louisville, to detroit. we'll talk about the snow and all of that the rest of the morning. that's the weather around the nation. >> and we are live along the mississippi river, all morning long. robin and

has created a perception that there is tainted product, when in fact we are processing plenty of oystersty of shrimp, and most of the coast line did not see oil spill at all. the safest seafood you will find today is off the shore of louisiana. that is one of the things we're asking help with is to help get the word out. we want to ask them to help us advertise that very fact, because there is no seafood product that is tested any more than that off the shore of louisiana. my message to folks is come on down, because we have some of the biggest, juiciest shrimp you confined. it is delicious and absolutely safe and clean. to louisiana. ng caller: i am a first-time calller, long time you weviewer. a couple of quick points. first of all, this disaster would never have occurred if we put in place the regulation that we see in norway, sweden, and some of the other countries. secondly, we are hearing a lot of misinformation in terms of the overall context. thousands of leases are held up in the gulf of mexico by the oil companies, and they are not drilling on them, and they want to tie up even

new jersey is home to four nuclear reactors, including the oldest nuclear plant in the country, the oyster creek station. two years older than the damaged japanese plant. now, with your long experience in protecting health and environment in new jersey, how confident can we be that the nuclear plants at our state are sufficiently safe to protect all of our people at all times? >> well, i would defer to the chairman on the safety issue except to say obviously, what was recently announced, which was that that plant was voluntarily -- the owners have agreed to shut it dn, i think is part of the solution with respect to that particular facility. >> well, we're -- little reassurance honestly because if they said okay, we'll even cut short the period that the license covers, which means that there's an element of worry out there. there can't be -- >> senator, if i could just comment and my understanding of the part of the reason for not extending the plant operation was motivated by the cost and some of the economic factors. certainly from the nrc's perspecte, we didn't see a safety reason to no

the reproduction of oysters is in the gulf -- the reproductive rates are weighed down -- are way downthis needs to be investigated. 5,000 feet into the water. we're used to spills the come off a ship and we can see it all on the surface. this did not happen here. this was deep in the ocean. to see how that ocean was disbursed and into the reproductive tracts of organisms and how that translated up the food chain across the marine environment is something that the scientific community is working hard at. it has to be studied over several seasons. we saw from the exxon the of this spill in alaska, it impacted tent and 20 years after the spill -- the exxon valdez spill. that will be ongoing. one of the main areas of recommendation of the commission was the importance of long-term monitoring to understand the consequences. just because you're not seeing oil coming out of the well head, to not assume it has vanished. host: frances beinecke served on the commission of the deepwater horizon of show -- independent scientists try to assess the environmental cost. this gets at what our guest wa

has created a perception that there is tainted product, when in fact we are processing plenty of oystersshrimp, and most of the coast line did not see oil spill at all. the safest seafood you will find today is off the shore of louisiana. that is one of the things we're asking help with is to help get the word out. we want to ask them to help us advertise that very fact, because there is no seood product that is tested any more than that off the shore of louisiana. my message to folks is come on down, because we have some of the biggest juiciest shrimp you confined. it is delicious and absolutely safe and clean. to louisiana. ng caller: i am a first-time calller, long time you weviewer. a couple of quick points. first of all, this disaster would never have occurred if we put in place the regulation that we see in norway, sweden, and some of the other countries. sendly, we are hearing a lot of misinformation in terms of the overall context. thousands of leases are held up in the gulf of mexico by the oil companies, and they are not drilling on them, and they want to tie up even more lease

told me is that even though they were in a situation weren't their livelihood, catching seaford, oysters, shrimp, it was all endangered by this bill -- the spill and the dangers of drilling offshore that they did not want to stop. those rigs were providing jobs in their community and that was very important for them. one person had put a mannequin outside of his store and he had the arms and legs cut off. he said, "ogle san cutting off our legs with the seafood industry and cutting off our arms with the oil industry. what will we have left? how will we survive?" that cuts to the heart of this debate which is american jobs, right? where are we going to find the resources to power this country? who will be able to provide them to west? at the end of the day, who will be paying for it? host: we talk about the personal, family aspects. what about the businesses that rely on oil? what is the account? -- the impact? guest: in 2008 when we saw the oil record prices passed the $4 mark, there was a surcharge even just to order a pizza of $1 here and a $2 there. we are seeing them eat the cost. if

. >> you shot it here in long island on oyster bay. >> we lived on the estate where we shot actually.k of the "kill bill" series and wonder if there is another. >> who knows? he is doing another movie now. we'll see. >> any other plans of what is ahead for you? >> lots of plans. we are going to go to vegas. >> i like you two together. >> yeah. have some fun. >> play some craps. >> i guess it's called shoot some craps. >> your dust mopping, foot mopping. that was very good. >> you're into that? >> we'll get you a pair. >> you guys, thank you. good luck with the hoffy. >> have great success with the film. it opens today in the theater near you. >> coming up next, three, two, one, live. questions from the crowd. here's to my pants not leaving marks on my waist. achieve small wins with a healthy lifestyle and dannon light & fit. the light fresh yogurt with 80 calories vs. 100 in the other leading brand. here's to 80 calories tasting crazy good. live light and fit. gotta get that bacon! dog: yummy. crunchy. bacon. bacon. bacon. there, in that bag! mom: who wants a beggin' strip? dog: me! i

new jersey is home to four nuclear reactors, including the oldest nuclear plant in the country, the oyster creek station. two years older than the damaged japanese plant. now, with your long experience in protecting health and environment in new jersey, how confident can we be that the nuclear plants at our state are sufficiently safe to protect all of our people at all times? >> well, i would defer to the chairman on the safety issue except to say obviously, what was recently announced, which was that that plant was voluntarily -- the owners have agreed to shut it down, i think is part of the solution with respect to that particular facility. >> well, we're -- little reassurance honestly because if they said okay, we'll even cut short the period that the license covers, which means that there's an element of worry out there. there can't be -- >> senator, if i could just comment and my understanding of the part of the reason for not extending the plant operation was motivated by the cost and some of the economic factors. certainly from the nrc's perspective, we didn't see a safety reason t

new jersey is home to four nuclear reactors, including the oldest nuclear plant in the country, the oysterreek station. two years older than the damaged japanese plant. now, with your long experience in protecting health and environment in new jersey, how confident can we be that the nuclear plants at our state are sufficiently safe to protect all of our people at all times? >> well, i would defer to the chairman on the safety issue except to say obviously, what was recently announced, which was that that plant was voluntarily -- the owners have agreed to shut it down, i think is part of the solution with respect to that particular facility. >> well, we're -- little reassurance honestly because if they said okay, we'll even cut short the period that the license covers, which means that there's an element of worry out there. there can't be -- >> senator, if i could just comment and my understanding of the part of the reason for not extending the plant operation was motivated by the cost and some of the economic factors. certainly from the nrc's perspective, we didn't see a safety reason to

with regard to the oyster creek leak, we did not see any indication of any risk to public health and safety as a result of those particular leaks, and, in fact, the facility has made significant modifications to dramatically reduce the likelihood of something like that happening in the future, and i would add that those leaks were not in systems that directly effect the ability of the reactor to deal with accident errors or ensure the reactor itself or the spent fuel pools continue to function safely and securely. >> thank you, madam chairman, and thank you, again, witnesses. >> thank you, senator. >> some of the record will remain open? >> it will remain open. >> thank you. >> senator durbin? >> thank you. it's a pleasure to be part of the committee. three mile island was 1979; correct? >> correct. >> i would say since then it's been frozen in place, no major expansion across the united states on the heels of that controversy, and i'm wondering now if the same thing is going to happen as a result of japan whether there's serious questions raised about operations, about design, and a