bad move that could effectively nationalize tepco. international atomic energy agency has begun inspecting improvements made to the country's other nuclear reactors the starting with the plant here. the agency's approval is essential before dozens of nuclear plants can go back on line following the catastrophe at fukushima. we will be taking and "in depth" will get just a radiation continues to pose a health bank risk in japan, even outside fukushima's exclusion zone. some sports now. in golf, a german pro got off to a poor start in abu dhabi. he has won three times in his career. he finished the day five over par. there were two holes in one, including this one on the 12th. another spaniard got the other one. rory is five under par and shares the lead with a swedish player. stay with us. we're going to japan. we will be looking at this situation, especially the radiation poisoning outside of the fukushima exclusion zone. stay with us for that. ♪ ♪ >> when i organize the party, it is a real party. there is no rubbish hanging about. ev

but tepco's problems were only just beginning. to prevent further core damage, plant workers began feeding seawater into the crippled reactors, but much of this highly radioactive water began to leak through cracks. >> apparently there are cracks in the containment and a large fraction of the water that they are feeding into the vessels is coming out into the basement of the reactor building. >> o'brien: and some of it made its way into the sea. >> they think there's a breach somewhere but they don't know where it is. they'll have to get to a situation where they can go in and decontaminate above the reactor and then they can get at what's inside. that's going to take a long time. >> o'brien: four months after the disaster, i came to japan. along the sendai coast, people were cleaning up. the earthquake and tsunami had stripped whole towns from their foundations, killing an estimated 18,000 people. life is forever changed here. the big concern here remains the radioactive fallout from the fukushima nuclear explosions. people here

tepco spokespersons say the operation went smoothly. workers will insert the endoscope on thursday as scheduled. tepco is boosting electricity rates for its corporate clients. the utility says the rates will go up an average 17% beginning in april due to rising costs for thermal powered generation. tepco president attorneyio nishizawa said on tuesday that the hikes will affect business users with contracts for 50 kilowatts or more each. the company's fuel costs for thermal power generation are expected to climb by about $10 billion this fiscal year. that's because utility has shut down some nuclear plants for checkups after the fukushima accident last march. tepco says higher electricity bills are unavoidable because it's not clear when the operation of these nuclear plants will resume. >>> they appear small and simple, but these dolls play an important role. they give emotional support to people who lost family members in the march 11th disaster. the key is the doll's resemblance to the departed family member. the memento dolls, as the

that means tepco's had to hand over a $1.5 billion deposit to the government. utilities operating nuclear plants in japan are legally required to be insured for 120 billion yen to compensate for any accidents. tepco is losing its coverage from the japan atomic energy insurance pool. 23 nonlife insurers established the organization. the group decid last august it would not renew the company's contract. the utility deposited the funds friday with the tokyo legal affairs bureau. the science and technology ministry says the payment is the first of its kind by a power company. tepco spokesperson say the utility is still seeking coverage from private sector insurers. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >> in myanmar dozens of political prisoners have been released as part of an am messity by the government. another sign the country is moving tentatively towards democracy. it could further encourage western countries to consider lifting economic sanctions against southeast asia's most reclusive nation. myanmar says 651 prisoners were inclu

of course, tepco has to factor in what really happened at fukushima daiichi. otherwise, what's the point in having this kind of computer simulation? >> japan's utilities have submitted stress test results for 14 reactors. that's nearly 30% of the reactors that have been shut down for inspections. >>> the u.s. ambassador to japan says his country will continue to help with the recovery from the disaster last march. john roos pledged assistance with nuclear issues and rebuilding efforts. roos visited fukushima prefecture with experts from the u.s. atomic energy commission and the u.s. department of energy. it was his first visit to the prefecture since the disaster. roos inspected the disabled fukushima daiichi plant. he also visited iwaki city. evacuees from the no-entry zone live there in makeshift houses. >> we will continue to work with people in this area in order to contribute in any way we can. >> roos told nhk the visit made him realize the urgent need to help evacuees. >>> japan hopes to conclude an agreement with ukraine to cooperate on nuclear acciden

tepco had to hand over a $1.5 billion deposit to the government. utilities operating nuclear plants in japan are legally to be insured for 120 billion yen. tepco is losing its coverage from the japan atomic energy insurance pool. 23 nonlife insurers established the organization. the group decided last august it would not renew the company's contract. the utility deposited the funds friday with the tokyo legal affairs bureau. the science and technology ministry says the payment is the first of its kind by a power company. tepco says the utility is still seeking coverage from private sector insurers. next we go to bangkok to find out what's going on in the region. >>> in myanmar dozens of political prisoners have been released as part of an amnesty by the government another sign the country the moving tentatively towards democracy. it could encourage western countries to consider lifting economic sanctions against southeast asia's most reclusive nation. myanmar says 651 prisoners were included in the presidential pardon. and nhk correspondent outside

of course, tepco has to factor in what really happened at fukushima. otherwise, what's the point of having this kind of computer simulation? >> japan's utilities have submitted stress test results for 14 reactors. that's nearly 30% of the reactors that have been shut down for inspections. >>> the u.s. says it will continue to help japan deal with the effects of last year's disaster. the country's ambassador to japan pledged assistance with nuclear issues and rebuilding efforts. ambassador visited the fukushima prefecture with experts from the u.s. atomic energy commission and the u.s. department of energy. it was his first visit to the prefecture since the disaster last march. he inspected the disabled fukushima plant and visited iwake city where people were living in make-shift houses. >> we'll continue to work with the people in this area in order to contribute in any way we can. >> roos told nhk the visit made him realize the urgent need to help evacuees. japan hopes to conclude an agreement with ukraine to cooperate on nuclear accidents. residents

tepco used an endoscope. the radiation resist tent endoscope was inserted two meters into the vessel to shoot images in various directions. it shot seven pictures inside. some images showed internal plumbing. they were unclear. many white spots obscured the pictures caused by radiation or steam from the radioactive water. it failed to register the surface of the cooling pool or other details of the interior inner structure. >> translator: as far as we can tell from these pictures, there doesn't seem to be any mayor damage, but i expected to see how the water is flowing inside the reactor, which would help our research, but nothing is clear. >> tepco needs to grasp the condition as it prepares for decommissioning them. they will consider using other monitoring devices to get a better view. >>> the environment ministry says cesium has been found in firewood ash in northeastern japan. in the wake of the nuclear accident, the municipalities will collect and dispose of the ash because it may be contaminated. they

tepco is working to restart some of its reactors. it has submitted the results of stress tests on two reactors at the plant. but the local government has refused to allow the reactors back online. it says there has not been an adequate investigation of the fukushima accident. >>> the japanese government will launch a new agency to oversee the reconstruction efforts in the areas devastated by the march 11th disaster. >> translator: the new government should provide a one-stop service to disaster-hit municipalities. the agency must play authoritative role in these efforts and ask the ministers to fully support it. >> the agency will be set up on february 10th with headquarters in tokyo. it will have a total of 250 staff. there will be bureaus in iwate miyagi and fukushima prefectures and six municipal branches in those areas. neighboring prefectures will each have a liaison office. >>> the government task force agreed on the outline of a bill to provide special assistance to fukushima prefecture, the site of the nuclear accident at the

for more on the images released by tepco we interviewed an expert on nuclear reactors. the professor first noted the white horizontal lines presented vapor from con dominated water falling from above. >> translator: some of the vapor from con dominated water has cooled and returned to a liquid state. but water inside the pressure vessel appears to be leaking freakily. water that has been poured into the reactor to cool t spent fuel rods is leaking from the damaged stress elt like rain. >> the professor singled out that corrosion that can be observed on the inner walls. a factor that could in his opinion undermine the durability of the vessel. >> translator: the rust does not pose an immediate threat at this point, but we need to keep an eye on possible vulnerables the if the corrosion continues to advance. i think we'll have to monitor the situation on a long-term basis. >> tepco is surveying the plant's underground areas for radioactive water. the utility said it has found five tons of nuclear reactive water. the water was found in pate. the pit has a valve which is us

tepco said about 40 liters of water leaked from a cooling system from a spent fuel pool at the number four reactor on sunday morning but the leak stopped when workers closed the valve. the utilities say the leak forced the system to stop for one hour and 40 minutes but the pool's temperature did not rise. the temperature near the plant fell to minus 8 degrees celsius on sunday morning. ruptured pipes caused three leaks of water on the previous day. tepco official admitted that the utility failed to take sufficient steps to prevent pipes freezing in the cold winter. he said it will take quick action to protect the pipes. >>> japanese's health ministry will install cesium detectors for local governments and municipalities. they will also strengthen food safety regulations nationwide in april. under the new safety standards, general food products will only be allowed to contain 100 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, an 80% reduction from the current level. baby food and milk 50 becquerels, drinking water just 10 becquerels. some devices in local government offices are unable to measure l

tepco president said on tuesday that the hikes will affect about 240,000 business users with contracts for 50 kill watts or more each. the company's fuel costs are expected to climb by about $10 billion this fiscal year. that's because utility has shut down some nuclear plants for checkups after the fukushima accident last march. tepco said higher energy bills run avoidable because it's not clear when the operation of these nuclear plants will resume. the economic gap between north and south korea has widened. a new survie shows that south korea's gdp is more than 40 times larger than the north's. the report released on tuesday by the statistical office said the country's gdp for 2010 was just over $900 billion. the north was about $21 billion. the report said north korea's economy shrank in 2009 and 2010. the survey has a per capita income in the north was just over $1,000 in 2010. that's less than 1/19 of the south. north korea's trade volume was around 5% of the south. 60% of the north's trade was with china. the report shows kim jong un faces a difficult task of rebuilding his coun

on monday tepco notified the shareholders in writing that it will not cooperate in taking legal action against the executives. the utility argues that the scale of the march tsunami was unforeseeable so the executives cannot be responsible for the nuclear disaster. a lawyer representing the shareholders criticized tepco auditors for claiming the tsunami could not be predicted and for expressing no remorse. >>> people in japan get used to bracing themselves for earthquakes. it's rare that a week goes by without any tremors. we focused a lot over the past year on efforts to rebuild after the disaster last march. but survivors of a quake in 1995 are still trying to recover. more than 6,000 people died in the great earthquake or the kobe rt quake as some called it. tuesday is the 17th anniversary. we have a two-part series on the challenges of coming back from disasters in our first story. we look in on those still waiting to go home. >> reporter: this man and his wife left their hometown after the great earthquake. they are still living here in another prefecture. the earthquake destroyed

plant operator tepco used an industrial endoscope to peer in the number two reactor where nuclear fuel has melted down. the radiation resistant endoscope was inserted about two meters into the vessel to shoot images in various directions and shot seven pictures in the containment structure. although some images showed internal plumbing, they were unclear. many white spots obscured the pictures, apparently caused by the effects of radiation or steam from the radioactive water. the camera failed to register the surface of the contaminated cooling pool or any other details of the reactor's inner structure. >> translator: as far as we can tell from these pictures, there doesn't seem to be any major damage. i expected to see how the water is flowing inside the reactor, which could help our research. but nothing is clear. >>> tepco needs to grasp the condition inside the reactor as it prepares for decommissioning. the company says they will consider using other devices to get a better view. the environment ministry said high levels of radioactive cesium have been found in firewood ash in fuk

tepco is now considering a joint investment with gas utilities to set up an entity that will specialize in getting natural gas supplies. it's also thinking about the joint management of facilities with other companies. specifically, these include natural gas pipelines to supply power plants. >>> the front-runner in france's presidential election says he will renegotiate the new eu treaty if he wins. the election is scheduled for april. socialist candidate francois oland has a higher support rate in polls compared to president nicolas sarkozy. oland said the new treat sde not fully consider economic growth and job creation, especially for young people. the treaty is designed to tighten fiscal discipline among eu members. >> translator: it's important to have the determination to make change and rebuild the economy and fiscal situation. >> hollande also announced in his manifesto tax hikes for big companies and the wealthy. the socialist candidate stressed that through these measures, he would balance the budget by 2017. >>> on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar is losing ground this

tepco is considering a joint investment with gas utilities to set up an entity that will specialize in getting natural gas supplies. also thinking about the joint management of facilities with oh companies. specifically, these include natural gas pipelines to supply power plants. >>> well, that's the latest in business. >>> thanks very much. the accident at the fukushima daiichi prompted the japanese government to implement a new inspection system for its network of nuclear plants. these so-called stress tests are meant to ensure reactors can withstand strong earthquakes and towering tsunami. first results came back last fall. they're from the ohi facility on the japan seacoast. now, experts from the international atomic energy agency are checking the findings. the ten-member iaea team is trying to gauge the effectiveness of the safety procedures. it will report to japan's nuclear watch dog, nisa. the iaea inspectors watched drill on thursday. plant workers connected cables to an energy generator. they based the drill on the assumption that external power was cut off. that's what happe

no confidence at all in tepco stock. it's down something like 90% since then. we're going to now take you to a live event happening in syria. the syrian president bashir al-assad is giving a very rare address. this is the first address he has made since late last month when the arab league sent in observers to monitor a peace plan in syria. let's listen in to the syrian president. >> translator: i have been longing for all these meetings and direct meeting with the citizens, but i've always been following events and anything that i have seen. brothers and sisters, i greet you with the arab greetings which we belong. we will always be hard, and i salute you with the -- i salute your resilience for syria will remain the castle of endurance. i salute you now after ten months of events that have affected our beloved country. these events that can be confronted by hard work, with believing in god and trusting our people throughout history. these events have cost us lots, very dearly, and which made my heart cry, but it was imposed on the syrian people and those syri

indu rember seven reactors at the the tests are a preconditi tepco claims the reactors could o 15 meters, near standards ed the two reactors. were not safe enough. we want idents and authorities. >> translator: we also w proceed. 's still too early to decide whether to restartess tests is better thanor in what really happe otherwise, what's the point of lities have submors. that's nearly 30% of down for inspections. >>> thapan deal with the effect japan pledged assistan efforts.rts from the gy.isit to the isaster last march. he inspeted iwake city where people were ork with ople in this area in orderto contribute in any way we can. help eto conclude an agreemen accidents. public are still struggling to recover from the dis 1986r accidents with ukraity of the chernobyl ghest level. the effects raine.reas remain contaminated experts also evaluated lastare information about he the spread of radioactivlso have nuclear expert it would be the first dealhe place to latest march 11 we have two two unique the insight and inform impact of crisis andhe road japan's efforts to rebuild. watch" a "the

tepco is up. we all know the problems that tepco has been having at that plant, the nuclear plant over in japan. >> the annual world economic forum is currently well underway. the topic on everybody's lips is the european debt crisis. that's a problem that still remains unresolved from the last time that the world's leaders and business chiefs gathered in davos, switzerland, a year ago. at the heart of that crisis is, of course, greece. overall the mood appears to be one of doom and gloom, but germany is still being seen by many as a leading light. angelo merkel attempted to lead the charge. on wednesday, the day after the international monetary fund, decided to lower its outlook for the global economy, she opened the proceedings with a warning that the block's richest member would not be making any promises that it says it couldn't be keeping. >> reporter: angela merkel told europe to stop diluting itself. it said reducing debt levels is the only way to maintain credibility. >> translator: the re

. >> tepco is also surveying the plant's underground areas for radioactive water. the utility said it has found five tons of radioactive water near the number two reactor. the con tam natd water was found in a pit on thursday. the pit has a valve which is used for pumping in sea water. the water contained over 16,000 highest level of radioactive substances found in this month's vary. the utility found con dominated water in a pit near the number three reactor. that means radioactive water is unlikely to have leaked into the ocean. the company will look into how the contaminated water got into the pit. four kapd dates are make their final appeals ahead of saturday's primary. each one is trying to show their best foot in this november's election. former massachusetts governor mitt romney, former house speaker newt gingrich and two other contenders took part in the televised debate thursday. romney is a successful businessman with personal assets of more than $250 million. his opponents say his tax rate is lore than that of ordinary americans because much of his earni

tepco is working to start its reactors. it submitted the results of stress tests on two reactors at the kashiwazaki kariwa plant. but the local government has refused to allow the reactors back online. it says there has not been an adequate investigation of the fukushima daiichi accident. >>> next we go to bangkok to find out what's making headlines in the region. >> we start in afghanistan where a senior american diplomat says the united states will support the taliban's decision to open a political office in qatar, a step designed to facilitate dialogue of reconciliation in the country. u.s. special envoy to afghanistan mark grossman commented after two days of talks with afghan president hamid karzai. >> efforts being made with qatar to open an office to the afghan tale ban need now to move to enable a conversation among afghans for peace. >> the taliban offered earlier this month to open an office in qatar as a vue for talks with the united states and other countries. president karzai indicated support for the taliban's

the government and tepco, they're the perpetrators. but they don't treat us as victims.-up, he says, has been painfully slow, small signs of progress. like this park is under blue tarps. he continues to needle the government as the sole citizen. he's taking care of his neighbor's pet, feeding him, trying to keep him alive. inside there's no electricity. very little access to water. the reason why he lives this way, he says, is because this is home. are you worried about your health living there? >> reporter: i'm co . >> translator: i'm completely contaminated he says. >> reporter: why put your personal health at risk? >> i have to stay here and make sure it's done, he says. i want to die in my hometown. >> reporter: his darmgs has turned him into a local legend. money is coming in after he posted this youtube video where he asks for donations. he grabs canned foot outside of the exclusion zone. the pressure from authorities is growing. he said he would do this interview only outside the mandated evac jags zone. what is it you want the international community to know one

the government and tepco, they're the pep traitors, but they don't treat us as victims. the clean-up has been painfully slow. like this park where the contaminated soil is under blue tarps. he keeps tabs and continues to needle the government. >> reporter: he's actually taken on a neighbor's pet anding this little dog, trying to keep this dog alive. inside this house there ee no electricity. there's very little access to water. and the reason why he would live in this way is because he says this is home. >> are you worried about your health living there? >> translator: i'm completely contaminated he says. >> reporter: why take your personal health at risk for this? >> reporter: we have to deacon tam nate this area or else this town will die. i will stay to make sure it's done, he says. i want to die in high hometown. his determination has turned him into a local legend. money has come in after he posted a youtube video asking for donations. he survived on canned food which he grabs outside of the exclusion zone. the local township looks the other way as he continues to b

the government and tepco, they're the perpetrators but they don't treat us as victims.he says, has been painfully slow, only small signs of progress like this park where contaminated soil is under blue tarps. so he continues to keep tabs and needle japan's government as the sole citizen. >> he has actually taken on a neighbor's pet in feeding this little dog just trying to keep the dog alive. inside his house, there is no electricity, very little access to water, and the reason why he would live in this way is because he says this is home. are you worried about your health living there? i am completely contaminated, he says. why take your personal health at risk for this? we have to decontaminate this area or else this town will die. i will make sure it's done he says. i want to die in my hometown. his determination has turned him into a local legend. money is coming in after he posted this youtube video asking for donations. he survives on canned food which he grabs outside of the exclusion zone. the local township looks the other way as he continues to break the law b