translator: the central government announced a new plan that municipalities hosting the nuclear power plants are puzzled by the lack of details. could you tell us more about the plan? >> nuclear power plans are designed to meet standards based on legal requirements. the more personality the equipment, the more robust the design, giving the development an extra cushion of safety. the stress test is a computer simulation of bigger than expected earthquakes and tsunamis to calculate that into a number of how much time there is before the fuel starts to melt. this supposedly will reveal each plant's vulnerability and improve their safety. what's making it complicated is the two stages of the test. municipalities with power plants say the difference is hard to understand and they are not convinced that the first stage is a guarantee of safety. the reason for the two stages is because of the compromise between the ministry of economy who wants to restart power plants as soon as possible and said the measures make the plants and the prime minister who maintains the nuclear and industrial safety age

the vehicle is permanently stationed within the nuclear power plant premise to act as back-up power inase power is lost. in the long run, other more fundamental tsunami countermeasures will be undertaken. the government has given assurance that the nuclear power plants in the country pose no safety risks due to these emergency safety countermeasures. >> translator: but what i can't understand is that if there's no safety issue, why is there a need to carry out the stress tests? the government says with the emergency safety measures being taken now, nuclear reactors are safe. but, in order to further secure local residents' peace of mind, it says it will carry out stress test as additional measure. but prime minister naoto kan has hinted that a new set of rules, including stress tests, should be established before deciding on resuming operations. so the government officials are not necessarily united on this matter. because of this, saga governor yasushi furukawa had to postpone his decision on resuming the operation. other local governments that host nuclear plants are bewildered by th

i do not know that there is anything that we want to get rid of other than the power plants, sewage plants, asphalt plants, things that you do not want to grow. there are things that can move, but i think they need to stay in the city, but they can be different. >> unless we do something drastic and severe for this community, it is not going to survive. not only for us, but it is not going to survive for a lot of you folks that are moving in here. and >> district and has a reputation as one of the city's most dangerous areas. we asked if the notoriety is valid and inquire about the district's crime problem. >>, as an issue that happens everywhere citizens go. we tend to blame the folks who have to look at what surrounds them, what the environment has the right. the environment has been neglected. poor schools, poor health, and food, poor housing, so we have to take some response ability for that. >> the reason some of the temperance flare-up is not because we have and lack of jobs, not just because there is and no money floating freely through the community, not just because they're almost

nuclear power plants taken off line. angela merkel said that the disaster in japan caused her to rethink her stance on nuclear energy. >> chancellor merkel want clear victory. the new legislation said that it is annmbitious goal for germany. the country will have to meet its energy needs without nuclear power. the ministers said this is a historic step for germany sending a signal to the world. >> even those abroad who don't agree with this, if anyone can do this, it is the germans. that is the message we're sending today. >> the opposition social democrats backed the nuclear phase-out and leaders poured scorn on the government which only months ago jettisoned the phase-out that they had once supported. >> this is your phaseout. this is really our phase out. >> the opposition insists that in some aspects the new laws don't go far enough. they want higher target for renewable energy. there has also been criticism of the way that costs of the change will be managed. >> i will be back later with more on the ambitious plans

membership on the condition that it shuts down the ignalina nuclear power plant. it even received funds to help dismantle the plant equipment and build storage for nuclear waste. the first reactor was closed in two thousand and four the other in two thousand and nine if you any of them joined the e.u. . where in the reactor room of the first unit nuclear fuel used to be stored underneath. it was used to generate heat and electricity and that. many of those who built the station and worked at it had to be trained in how to dismantle it. but if you put a turbine together with my own hands after it went into service my job was to maintain and repair it but in the past seven years i've been taking all that apart again with my own hands it's a pity creating something is much better if you ask me. you and valleri good newton were made redundant when the station was shut down but there was no other work for them to to go. they were nice people working at the plant i enjoyed working there we still keep in touch with them. to certificates a photo album and the film showing

operations at 35 of the 54 nuclear power plants in japan were suspended for safety checks. the government has asked businesses and households using power from the electricity power companies to cut electricity use by 15% compared to last year. some companies decided to move their hours forward and others relocated temporarily to western japan. many local governments with nuclear power plants in their areas are reviewing whether to restart operations of their plants. after successful safety checks of the plan the in western japan, the minister asked officials to allow operations to resume. >> translator: i know it's not an easy decision to make of the locals, but i would like to ask to restart operations. >> but prime minister kan was cautious about the plant restarting. he ordered cabinet members to put in new rules, like the stress tests. >> translator: under current rules, the nuclear and industrial safety agency and the industry minister can decide whether a nuclear reactor can restart after regular checkups, but i think the public can no longer be satisfied with the curr

right now, generally nuclear power plants respond or are required to cope for about 4-8 hours. the task force looked at this issue and they found eight hours was an appropriate time to ultimately put the plant in a position in which they could take all other action needed to do the more extended coping. eight hours buys you the time that you need to prepare and set up everything else that you need to do to get the much longer 72 hours. this is something which i think there'll be tremendous debate and discussion about because these are the kinds of things that we want to hear from stakeholders and have more refined analysis which is widely recommended doing this as part of a change to regulation. >> to the best of your knowledge, has anyone died or been seriously injured as a result of the accidents in japan? is there any prognosis on how the workers of the nuclear power plant may have been affected overall? what do know of their health? >> members of the public were evacuated to reduce the potential long-term impact from the accident. there are some workers who have received do

this footage is from the film marking the anniversary of the nuclear power plant. the station medical the electrical needs of and two may bring soviet republics. the two nuclear reactors commission the plan. than any of the reactors at the time it would seem that this technological inherited from the soviet union might stand a good stead after independence the country itself would have a plentiful supply of electricity and also be able to sell a surplus to others at a premium. in those years because of an economic slump but this nuclear power plant provided uninterrupted supplies of customers. consumers at the lowest price we pretty much be able to. period of transition in fact we paved the way for the country's further economic development . of the. left the u.s.s.r. it sought to join the european union. was told that it could acquire a u. membership on the condition that it shuts down the. power plant. it even received from to help dismantle the plant equipment and build storage for. the first reactor was closed in two thousand and four. in two thousand and nine.

this footage is from a film marking the anniversary of the eight million a nuclear power plant. the station metals the electrical needs of miss usa and two from a growing soviet republics. the two nuclear reactors commission the plans for more powerful. than any other reactors of the time in the same that this technological model inherited from the soviet union might stand you in your in good stead after independence the country itself would have a plentiful supply of electricity and also be able to sell a surplus of its pretty. good. supply still if the radio were cutting in those years because of an economic slump but this nuclear power plant provided uninterrupted supplies of electricity to customers in all of the really deloris i'm glad feel free in consumers at the lowest prices which we pretty much failed very deliberately in economy during that period of transition in fact we paved the way for the country's further economic development. of the. oath to let you in your left the u.s.s.r. it's all to join the european union. if you're a new was told that it could acquire a yo

nuclear plant is prompting some local governments to change their minds about hosting nuclear power plants. four say they want to break with nuclear energy entirely. last week nhk contacted 28 prefectures and municipalities not including fukushima to see if their thinking about nuclear plants has changds. 15 said they cannot decide immediately on whether their nuclear plants should be shut down. five municipalities said they would not seek to have their plants scrapped because nuclear power remains a vital source of energy. however, shizuoka prefecture says it intends to start a campaign immediately to have its nuclear power plants decommissioned. three other local governments said they plan to launch similar campaigns in the near few. the hamaoka nuclear plant is located near the coast and sits right on top of a fault where a magnitude 8 earthquake is considered highly likely to occur. shizuoka governor heita kawakatsu said it has underscored the need for a fundamental review of japan's energy policy. he said efforts must be made to shift to new sources of energy. >>> soon after the march

the work of nuclear alpha raters who visit me and others power plants and write reports and analysis and criticism of each other so that they are all working to come up with the same standard of best practice there was a great deal of conversation and suspect analysis application of standards judgement about whether people are and hearing to standards that is going on on a daily basis throughout all of the four hundred thirty five power plants in the world the problem of focus shima was that they made a mistake and reactor design not in reactor operations but in reactor design and what happened to happen now is that every nuclear regulatory authority in the world needs to go back and ask the question are all of the reactors under my supervision and protected against worst case natural catastrophes like floods like tsunamis like earthquakes like plane crashes and that those questions are being asked right now i think they will result in some changes i don't think the changes are going to be terribly expensive i don't think they're going to take a long time to implement and i think tha

all nuclear power plants require that outside assistance after they have shut down and the japanese mistake resulted in those outside non-nuclear systems not being available so the great irony of what happened at fukushima is that it was the failure of non-nuclear support systems to be available after the shutdown that resulted in this meltdown and really believe everything they think they are operators tell you i don't have to believe it we operate a system of tremendous transparency we have i.a.e.a. standards that are inforced by national nuclear regulatory about prodigies all around the world which are independent bodies completely separate from the operators we have a worldwide network of nuclear operators who visit each other's power plants and write reports and analysis and criticism of each other so that they are all working to come up to the same standard of best practice there is a great deal of conversation inspection analysis application of standards judgement about whether people are hearing to standards that is going on on a daily basis throughout all of the four hundred thirty

to standards that is going on on a daily basis throughout all of the four hundred thirty five power plants in the world the problem at focus shima was that they made a mistake and reactor design not in reactor operations but in reactor design and what happened to happen now is that every nuclear regulatory authority in the world needs to go back and ask the question are all of the reactors under my supervision protected against worst case natural catastrophes like floods like tsunamis like earthquakes like plane crashes and that those questions are being asked right now i think they will result in some changes i don't think the changes are going to be terribly expensive i don't think they're going to take a long time to implement and i think that the the good of this is that with the world will have drawn a lesson from fukushima a nuclear safety will be even stronger in the aftermath thank you very much for this interview. spending the year in iraq his military journalist. killing us. wasting their time trying to get killed. oh long live the. last. twenty seven days publicizing the invite.

. >>> the operator of the crippled fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant will twin preparations to inject nitrogen into the number three react over tuesday afternoon. tokyo electric power company says workers have confirmed last friday that the pipes can be connected to the reactor container. tepco plans to inject nitrogen to avoid a hydrogen explosion. the utility has set a target of july 17th to complete the task. nitrogen was injected into the number one reactor in april and the number two reactor in june. >> translator: we are planning to connect the pipe to the container around 1:00 p.m. on tuesday. we want to begin the injection as soon as we get the approval from the safety agency. >> the utility reported its plan to the nuclear and industrial safety agency on monday. it described the safety measures to limit radiation exposure to the workers. tepco also told the agency how the injection will impact the container. >>> tepco says it has detected airborne radioactive materials above the government standard in the number two reactor building. tepco has been investigating inside the th