tepco's president spoke to the media today. certainly a tough, tough year for tepco. what are the executives saying? >> it certainly has been. first off, tepco executives have been pretty loathed to let tokyo nationalize their company. that would mean those execs would lose some decision-making authority. they don't want to lose that. they need more costs to cover the decommissioning fukushima or face bankruptcy. taking the plant totally offline involves removing the nuclear feel including putting a steel sarcophagus around the plant. all that expected to be finished past the year 2040. and tokyo could give as much as this money, about 3 trillion yen or $39 billion in funding. this would be spread over four years. in turn, the government would get an equity stake in tepco, giving it a voice in future decision-making. now, this man here, he is the president of tepco. he defended the possibility of nationalization earlier today. >> translator: right now we are facing a big deficit. and our biggest task is to rectify the situation. and, of course, we are considering seve

currently, tepco is storing the treated water in tanks on the plant's premises. tepco had been considering discharging the treated water into the sea, but after protests from a national association of fisheries cooperatives, it has postponed the decision. tepco announced on thursday that it will not release water into the sea until it implements three measures. these include blocking underground water from entering the basements, also improving and stabilizing decontamination equipment and increasing the number of storage tanks. >> translator: we will definitely take the three steps and fully brief the national fisheries association and local fishermen on our plan to deal with the decontaminated water. >> tepco also says it will no the release water into the ocean without approval from relevant offices, including the fisheries ministry. >> people who used to live around the fukushima daiichi power plant worry about how much radiation touched them and how much touched their families. local government officials have released their estimates. they calculated exposur

tepco is storing the treated water in tanks on the plant's premises. tepco is considering discharging the treated water into the ocean, but after protests from a fisheries cooperative, it postponed the decision. tepco will not release water into the ocean until it implementing three measures, blocking underground water from entering the basements, improving and stabilized decontamination equipment and increasing the number of storage tanks. >> translator: we will definitely take the three steps and fully brief the national fisheries association and local fishermen on our plan to dewaste the decontaminated water. >> tepco says it will not release water into the ocean until it has received approval from relevant government offices including the fisheries ministry. >>> "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. "nuclear watch" brings you insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis, and "the road a

what does the report say about tepco? >> well, it explains in detail the errors tepco workers made right after the earthquake and tsunami hit fukushima daiichi. they were late to respond to the problems with reactor number 1. they fell behind in their attempt to cool down the reactor. they failed to use the only workable system called the isolated condenser, after the plant lost its major power sources. the condenser uses steam to cool it down, but neither workers, the task force on the site, nor officials at headquarters knew how to operate the condenser at the time of the emergency. the report says, as the operator of a nuclear plant, tepco's lack of knowledge was extremely inappropriate. it says there could have been ways to slow down the pace of meltdowns and lessen the leakage of radiation outside the plant. >> so, it is the next step to get to the bottom of what happened at fukushima daiichi? >> well, the independent government committee is scheduled to finalize this report by the summer of 2012 after interviewing o

panel members also criticized tepco's initial response to the doesn't. they say fire trucks should have been sent in earlier to pump water into the reactors. that may have lessened damage it fuel rods thereby releasing release of radiation. the report also found problems with the government's handling of the crisis. a computer system that predicts how radio active materials spread in the event of a nuclear accident wasn't used when evacuations were planned. and evacuation orders were not precise. so they failed to probably reach the affected municipalities. an expert is calling for further investigation. >> it should be clarified whether the prime minister's office took effective action while the accident was in are gres and the situation remained volatile. they should access the crisis management system and comment on the matter in their final reports. >> the panel is expected to release its final report next year. now nhk world read the interim report and spoke us to earlier to tell b to tell us about some of the highlights. >> specialists hand picked

panel members also criticized tepco's initial response to the accident. they say fire trucks should have been sent in earlier to pump water into the reactors. that may have lessened damage to the fuel rods, thereby reducing the leak of radiation. the report found problems with the government's handling of the crisis. a computer system that predicts how radioactive materials spread in the event of a nuclear accident wasn't used when evacuations were planned, and evacuation orders were not precise. so they failed to promptly reach the effected municipalities. a japanese nuclear expert is calling for further investigation. >> it should be clarified whether the prime minister's office took effective action while the accident was in progress and the situation was volatile. thinvestigation should access the cries i management system and comment on the matter in their final report. >> the panel is expected to release its final report next year. our reporter read the incident rim report. spoke to us earlier to tell us about some of the highlights. >> tepco report

panel members also criticized tepco's initial response to the accident. they say fire trucks should have been sent in earlier to pump water into the reactors. that may have lessened damage to the fuel rods, thereby reducing the leak of radiation. the report found problems with the government's handling of the crisis. a computer system that predicts how radioactive materials spread in the event of a nuclear accident wasn't used when evacuations were planned, and evacuation orders were not precise. so they failed to promptly reach the effected municipalities. a japanese nuclear expert is calling for further investigation. >> it should be clarified whether the prime minister's office took effective action while the accident was in progress and the situation was volatile. the investigation should access the cries i management system and comment on the matter in their final report. >> the panel is expected to release its final report next year. our reporter read the incident rim report. spoke to us earlier to tell us about some of the highlights. >> tepco repo

. >> reporter: tepco built reactors at fukushima daiichi to power thousands of homes and businesses. now there's rot inside number one. analysts estimate all the nuclear fuel has melted through the furnace, much of it into the containment vessel. concrete covers the bottom of the vessel. it was up to two and a half meters at its thickest point. but the high temperatures have eroded parts of it. in the worst case the fuel may have melted 65 centimeters into the concrete. in some places that would leave just 37 centimeters before a steel shield, the final barrier. company spokespersons insist the concrete in all three reactors has stopped eroding. >> translator: the bottom of the vessel is filled with water, so i don't change my view that the fuel in the reactors has been cooled down. >> nuclear experts have come up with several scenarios to describe what's going on with the reactors. nhk noriyuki mizhuno told us how the recent analysis will affect the work to decommission the damaged reactors. he spoke in japanese so we'll guide you with simultaneous interpretation. >> translator: the

tepco says the air temperature in the containment vessel is 40 degrees celsius. so the fuel must be cool enough. but i don't know if such a statement can assure the peoe of fukushima. after all, the cold shutdown is a state of a healthy nuclear power plant being kept under 100 degrees celsius, not the crippled plant like fukushima daiichi. tepco and the government should explain the status inside the reactor more in detail. by releasing such data as the gas concentration rates in the containment vessels, melted fuel is emitting very high levels of radiation. so it must be taken out from the reactor with remotely controlled robot arms. if fuel actually melts into the concrete shield of the containment vessel, tepco would need to develop new technology to remove the concrete around the fuel. experts estimate it takes 15 years to remove the fuel and another 15 years to decommission one unit of the reactor, total of 30 years, or it may take longer. japan may need help from other countries as well. so i believe tepco should release more precise data to get support fro

. >> tepco built reactors at fukushima daiichi to power thousands of homes and businesses. now there's rot inside number one. analysts estimate all the nuclear fuel has melted through the furnace. much of it into the containment vessel. concrete covers the bottom of the vessel. it was up to two and a half meters at the thickest point, but high temperatures eroded parts of it. in the worst case, fuel may have melted 65 sent me ters into the concrete. in some places, leaving just 37 sent meters before a steel shield, the final barrier. company spokespersons increase the concrete in all three reactors stopped eroding. >> the bottom of the vessel is filled with water, so i don't change my view that the fuel in the reactors has been cooled down. >> nuclear experts have come up with several scenarios to describe what's going on inside the reactors. our reporter has been reporting on this since march 11th. he tells us how the recent analysis will effect the work to recondition the reactors. we will guide you with simultaneous interpretation. >> translator: the most important data

tepco released its first report on the causes. the document is based on interviews with more than 250 employees. it sheds a partial light on what led to the melt downs. it also gives details on why workers were unable to contain the situation. however, tepco defended its actions before and after the disaster, calling them appropriate. the utilities report also yut lines measures to prevent future accidents at nuclear plants but the document fails to answer several questions. one of the workers on site said that he manually stopped the system because it appeared to have run out of water. further investigations showed that was not the case. but the report did not provide a clear explanation as to why the cooling system failed to operate properly. another point of contention is why they neglected to update the tsunami predicts years ago. it was predicted the maximum wave heights could top ten meters. the company was waiting for feed back from experts. we asked for an opinion on the report. he is a nuclear expert at the tokyo institut

let's have a look at the year that was for tepco. you can see how shares just plunged back in march. right down there. that was the time of the tsunami and the earthquake. and they've hardly recovered yet, by any means. in fact, if anything, tended to trend down a little bit lower towards the end of the year. this means that overall, tepco shares have lost 89% of their value as 2011 nears its end. the utility reportedly expects a net loss of more than $7.5 billion for the current fiscal year, which ends in march 2012. >>> coming up on "world business today," we look back on a tough year for spain. and ahead to what could be another year of pain. >>> well, let's look at crude oil prices on the new york mercantile exchange. at the last check they've slipped .03%. so very, very, very marginally to just very marginally below $100 a barrel. continuing concern over the weak global economy and middle east tensions. >>> so 2011 the year of the protests. the year of the unemployed. the year of austerity. whatever you call it, it was certainly

tepco says a worker found the water on sunday. the water reportedly was about 50 centimeters to 3 meters deep throughout the 54 meter long tunnel. the utility says the level of radiation at the surface of the water is 3 mil see verts per hour. tepco speculates that radioactive water from the processing facility may have been diluted by ground water after it flowed into the tunnel. utility says the tunnel is not connected to the sea. the discovery raises questions about tepco's infectispection a management capabilities because the firm failed to notice the water after the waste processing facility was completed in april. >> the governor of fukushima prefecture expressed displeasure over the announcement that the plant has been under control. he met three cabinet members on sunday. the meeting follows prime minister noda's declaration on friday that the crisis is contained as all of the reactors have successfully been brought to a state of cold shutdown. he said noda himself should have come to explain the government's decision. >>

is keeping a lid on just how severe the situation is we're talking about tepco tepco is the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly in admitted publicly the credibility of tepco is not a very high level and unfortunately there are only source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is the kind of remedial step that just indicates descale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tepco if it is sandbags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the sea then that's not really very encouraging. later on today as well in the program another major toxic threat we got a special report lined up for you exposing the plight of unspoiled amazon rain forest and they did you know people who are dying out there because of tons of industrial waste is a big story that waste been dumped there by all giant. russia's downgraded diplomatic relations

however, tepco defended its actions before and after the disaster, calling them appropriate. the utilities report also yut lines measures to prevent future accidents at nuclear plants but the document fails to answer several questions. one of the workers on site said that he manually stopped the system because it appeared to have run out of water. further investigations showed that was not the case. but the report did not provide a clear explanation as to why the cooling system failed to operate properly. another point of contention is why they neglected to update the tsunami predicts years ago. it was predicted the maximum wave heights could top ten meters. the company was waiting for feed back from experts. we asked for an opinion on the report. he is a nuclear expert at the tokyo institute of technology. >> translator: the utility should explain to what degree the chain of command and communications remained functional at the plant. only tepco could provide this information and by doing so it will demonstrate its willingness to be more transparent. this is necessary to est

well there's a few pieces of this the first is that we're talking about tepco tepco is the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly and admitted publicly even though it was known so the credibility of tepco is not at a very high level and unfortunately there are only a source of information about what's happening at the plants and secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered filtering out cesium but not filtering out strontium ninety. sandbagging the crack in the wall is is the kind of remedial step that just indicates the scale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tempo if it's a sand bags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the sea then that's not really very encouraging but strontium ninety is also a very dangerous dangerous radionuclide it has a half life of twenty nine years so it will remain toxic to us for well over one hundred years it mimics counts him so it tends to be taken up by the bones where it's very dange

we're talking about tepco tepco is the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly and admitted publicly the credibility of tepco is not at a very high level and unfortunately there are only a source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is is the kind of remedial step that just indicates the scale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tempo if it's a sand bags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the sea then that's not really very encouraging. today at toxic threat all special report exposes the plight of unspoiled famines and rain forests and all the smith pull pro who are dying because of tons of industrial waste dumped by an oil giant. russia has downgraded diplomatic relations with qatar after an assault on moscow's envoy today the russian diplomat was attacked by airport security officials just as russia criticized role

we're talking about tepco tepco is the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly and admitted publicly the credibility of tepco is not at a very high level and unfortunately there are only source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is the kind of remedial step that just indicates the scale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tempo if it's a sandbags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the scene and that's not really very encouraging. today to toxic threat off special report explains the plight of unspoiled amazon rain forest and that's most people who are dying because of tons of industrial waste dumped by an oil times. has it downgraded diplomatic relations with qatar after an assault on most days and boy today how the russian diplomat was attacked by airport security officials just as russia criticized in the mounting

tepco. and they've they've always been a little conservative shall we say let's say i think it's i think it's honest to say that tepco has credibility it's less than zero right now yeah so so. you know we had a meltdown a channel and correct me if i'm wrong on that and there was a massive white hot korea may know this melted core material that could have sunk into the earth how did they stop that chair noble and how might they be able to replicate that or might they not be able to replicate that in fukushima well the to prevent closure right you know it was you know a lot they did is they drop tremendous amounts of lead and graphite and sand and. the situation in fukushima as is different because you can airdrop all that. radioactive you know that cover because these fuel pools above the core are still filled with huge amounts of radioactivity and reactor used fuel spent fuel as it's called so they can't really bomb this corey i'm as they did it noble. from the air so and it's largely inacce

tepco. and they've they've always been a little conservative shall we say let's say i think it's i think it's honest to say that tepco has credibility it's less than zero right now yeah so so. you know we had a meltdown a channel and correct me if i'm wrong on that and there was a massive white hot korea may know this melted core material that could have sunk into the earth how did they stop that churn noble and how might they be able to replicate that or might they not be able to replicate that in fukushima well the to prevent the yeah right you know it was you know a lot they did is they drop tremendous amounts of lead and graphite and sand and. the situation in fukushima as is different because you can't airdrop all that. radioactive cover because these fuel pools above the core are still filled with huge amounts of radioactivity and reactor used fuel spent fuel that's called so they can't really bomb this corey i'm as they did it noble. from the air so and it's largely inaccessible right

is keeping a lid on just how severe the situation really is we're talking about tepco the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly in admitted publicly the credibility of tepco is not a very high level and unfortunately their only source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is the kind of remedial step that just indicates descale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tempo if it's sandbags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the scene and that's not really very encouraging. russia's don't grade a diplomatic relations with qatar after an assault on moscow's envoy to the russian diplomat was attacked by airport security officials just as russia criticize carter's role in the mounting international pressure on syria as it is going to she can reports next there are suspicions that katter believes it can get away with such act

japan's trade minister urging temporary nationalizedation of tepco today. tepco is the operator of the fukushima daiichi plant which had the nuclear meltdown. the stock now down just a shade under 90% this year in talk of nationalization, obviously, unsurprisingly spooking investors. now, meanwhile, releasing reams of data this morning. and on the whole it paints a pretty downbeat picture for the month of november. starting with industrial production, down 2.6% in the month of november from the previous close and down 4% on the same period last year. the flooding in thailand hitting many of japan's biggest exporters in recent months. inflation was also up today, and core inflation prices which exclude the cost of fresh food fell compared to a year earlier, was in line with expectations. but it does continue to raise the issue of deflation in japan. meanwhile, the unemployment numbers were out. they remain steady at 4.5%. that, too, was in line with expectations. elsewhere, household spending fell by more than 3% from 2010. retail sales also fell. but charle

dr robert jacobs research so shit professor it was shima piece institute believes a plant operator tepco is keeping a lid on just how bad and severe the situation really is we're talking about tepco the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly in admitted publicly the credibility of tepco is not a very high level and unfortunately their only source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is the kind of remedial step that just indicates descale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tempo if it's sandbags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the scene and that's not really very encouraging. just like you know in twenty minutes sport bulleting kate will be here she's got the latest on tonight's crunch champions league game in portugal could be a bit of history in the making by a russian side they'll find out more later right now t

is keeping a lid on just how severe the situation really is we're talking about tepco the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdown within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly in admitted publicly the credibility of tepco is not a very high level and unfortunately their only source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is the kind of remedial step that just indicates descale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tempo if it's sandbags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the sea then that's not really very encouraging. just let you know as well in about fifteen minutes tonight on this channel another major toxic threat reporting on got a special report for you exposing the plight of unspoiled amazon rain forest of the indigenous people they were dying out because of the tons of industrial waste done by an oil giant. russia's downgraded diplomatic relations with qatar a

is keeping a lid on just how severe the situation really is we're talking about tepco the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami in took three months to speak about it publicly in admitted publicly the credibility of tepco is not a very high level and unfortunately their only source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is the kind of remedial step that just indicates descale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by temko if it's a sandbags that are going to keep this strontium ninety out of the scene and that's not really very encouraging. just over two hours time another major toxic threat we're reporting on a special report in fact exposing the plight of unspoiled amazon rain forest and the indigenous people there were dying out because the tons of industrial waste that's being dumped by an oil giant. special report very soon tonight russia's downgraded diplomatic relations with qatar

tepco says that the inert gas will prevent another hydrogen explosion. in late october, tokyo electric power company found hydrogen accumulating in parts of the number two reactor at a density of up to 2.9%. since then, the operator has been pumping nitrogen into the containment vessel. on thursday, it began injecting the gas directly into pressure vessels of the number one, two and three reactors to lessen the concentration of hydrogen. it's believed the density of hydrogen accumulating in the containment and pressure vessels is below 4%. above this level, an explosion could occur. tepco says the nitrogen injection will push out hydrogen and reduce its concentration. >>> "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11th. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fallout from the earthquake and tsunami. nuclear watch brings insight and information on the impact of the fukushima daiichi crisis. the road ahead examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newslin

tepco says it took workers about 21 hours to notice the leak. it says the contaminated water contains cesium and stroncium. it will take two weeks to analyze the level in the water. a senior agency official said tepco must review its inspection system given that cracks occurred in recently-installed equipment and it took too long to notice the problem. the japanese government has banned shipments of rice harvested this year from part of a fukushima city after radioactive contamination was discovered. inspections last week found up to 590 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram from rice in three farms. that's over the government limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram. the government says the ban effects 406 rice farms in the region. rice shipments have already been banned at another part of a fukushima city in the prefect e prefecture. >>> now let's look at the latest? sports with hiro morita.come in report. sato has climbed to one rung below the top. nine and a half years after his professional debut. it is quite clear that he's still looki

we are also watching companies like nec tepco -- like tepco. back to you. good >> many thanks. now it has been announced in argentina the president has cancer. the government says she developed cancer in the thyroid gland's but it has not spread to other parts of the body. hernandez started her second term after a landslide election victory. the announcement came as a surprise to many in argentina and curator -- many in argentina of. >> it started us a program which several controversial laws. we have been very active, and then there came the announcement that she will have surgery and will then have to take 20 days of rest and recuperation. >> do you think this affects her popularity. she has only just started a second term, but do you think there will be concerns she might not be fit for the presidency? >> i think they will go through great lengths to say she is very fit, but she will take 20 days off and will be back in action shortly afterwards. i think if anything, it is sympathy. she is still in mourning for the death of her husband in october 2010. she is still in mourni

tepco says the inert gas will prevent another hydrogen explosion. in late october, tokyo electric power company found hydrogen in the number two reactor at a density of 2.9%. since then the operator has been pumping nitrogen into the vessel. it began injecting right into containment vessels of one, two, and three reactors. it's believed the density of hydrogen accumulating in the vessels is below 4%. above this level, an explosion could occur. tepco says the nitrogen injection would push out hydrogen and reduce its concentration. >>> this week we've shown you interviews with leaders on the indian economy. on wednesday the indian government said gdp in the latest quarter grew at a slower analyzed rate of 6.9%. yet leaders we spoke to remain confident. today is the last of our series. i spoke with nhk world's hiro hirosei for more. >> what do you think is the point there? >> i drew attention to the five year plan that will start next fiscal year. i sat down with an adviser to the prime minister. he is deeply involved in the plan. >> so we are spending

tepco had said there was no way it could have prepared for the disaster. the authors interviewed hundreds of people. they said the authority's approach damaged public trust in the relief effort. the head of the panel said that when those in charge and said the tsunami was beyond what they conceived, it was a denial of responsibility. that attitude may have led to the lack of precautions that have been taken. to report will not recommend a move away from nuclear power but it is full of lessons to be learned. >> a two prominent south korean women have met the man chosen as the next leader of a north korea, kim jong un. the former's first lady talked with him for about 10 minutes after arriving to pay their respects to his father. it is the first town meeting between the young king and south koreans. our correspondent is a in the city and explains the significance of the meeting. >> south korea and had been hoping for something by allowing these families to pay their respects to kim jong-il. there are pictures on television showing that meeting happening as t

under the proposed plan, tepco will apply to the state to raise electricity charges next april. the government and utility are working to compile a new business plan by next spring. >>> a leading japanese credit rating agency has downgraded japan's government debt for the first time. rating and investment information or r&i on wednesday downgraded japan's sovereign debt by one notch to aa plus. that's down from a top aaa rating. the agency said this is due to the country's fiscal instability. r&i cites possibility there may be no review of expenditures for fiscal 2012 including social security expenses. it also says the consumption tax may not be raised as planned. japanese government bonds have already been downgraded this year by u.s. rating agency standard & poor's and moodys. on the downgrade, bank of japan governor stressed the importance of restoring fiscal health. japan's fiscal situation is one of the worst among industrialized countries. >> translator: achieving a sound fiscal condition is vital. because of the loss of confidence in government bonds would pose a shock t

the agency warned tepco geps using the equipment. the agency asked the company to investigate the cause. earlier, water containing strontium liked into the ocean. the >>> the fukushima government released some results of radiation health checks in the prefecture. the information shows that exposure levels of most residents near the damaged nuclear plant are low with little health impact expected. the prefecture has been checking the health of its nearly 2 million residents. on tuesday it released the estimated external exposure levels of around 1,700 people from 3 municipalities designated as evacuation zones after the nuclear accident. fukushima says 97% of people are thought to be exposed to less than 5 millisieverts of radiation. of that number 63% have received less than 1 millisievert. the country's permissible limit is 1 millisievert per year. nine people are thought to have been supposed to 10 millisieverts or more. five are plant workers. the highest level recorded, 37 millisieverts measured for one plant worker. >> translato

and they say that people at tepco don't know, either. on tonight's "nuclear watch's" nhk world's commentator noriyuki mizuno looks at some of the relations between the government and tepco. our conversation was in japanese with simultaneous interpretation. >> it does seem as if the plant is no longer in the dangerous state it was in immediately after the accident. it appears as if things have calmed down a great deal, but there is still much instability. the power plant is not yet completely safe. and i question whether it can be said that the accident has been contained. the most important thing to find out right now is the temperature of the molten fuel and the cooling water. at reactor number one, however, they believe that most of the molten fuel has fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel where there is no thermometer. the amount of water has not been measured accurately with a water gauge and has only been guessed. some of the molten fuel could be exposed from the water. as for reactor number two in november, they suspected

the government will review tepco's restructuring efforts before deciding on whether to give additional funds. >>> one of the joys of winter is playing in the snow. but in fukushima prefecture this year, worries about radiation are keeping many kids indoors. to remedy that, about 30 children from iwaki city trofled to a popular ski resort about 200 kilometers away from their homes. since march, a lot of children have not been allowed to play outside because of fears from radiation leaking from the fukushima daiichi crippled power plant. the kids made up for lost time. frolicking in the snow for hours. >>> mai shoji is up next with weather. >>> hi there and welcome back. let's take a look at your weather conditions. let's first start off with india. has a threat of facing this cyclone. this is just over bay of bengal right now. let's look at this cyclonic system. by wednesday, local time, it looks like it's going to be strengthening. and keeping and maintaining its strength. it will be making landfall in india. most likely and wind speed as of now is 65 kilometers per hour. we're talking

cnn spoke to the tepco president just a couple days ago. he did acknowledge there was a lot more work to be done. he also acknowledged this cleanup is costing a lot of money. he doesn't know how the company will look in the future. >> translator: right now we are facing a big deficit and our biggest task is to rectify the situation. of course, we are considering several options as solutions and we're making sure we pick the most rachelleal of them. nationalizing the country is one of them. we do not deny consider nationalization. it will be after we debated what is the best solution. >> reporter: so a significant announcement for tepco, which is in charge of the nuclear plant, a significant announcement for the government as well. but for those fukushima residents who still are not allowed home, it doesn't actually make that much difference. there's still about 80,000 residents who have been forced to move away from the area because the area is unsafe. they still don't know when they'll be allowed home. those closest to the power plan the d

nuclear experts say they don't fully understand what's going on inside, and they say the people at tepco don't know either. on nuclear watch, nhk's commentator looks at some of the challenges for tepco and the japanese government. our conversation was in japanese, with simultaneous interpretation. >> translator: it does seem as if the plant is no longer in the dangerous state it was in immediately after the accident. it appears as if things have calmed down a great deal, but there's still much instability. the power plant is not yet completely safe, and i question whether it can be said that the accident has been contained. the most important thing to find out right now is the temperature of the molten fuel and cooling water. at reactor number one, however, they believe most of the molten fuel has fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel where there is no thermometer. the amount of water hasn't been measured accurately with a water gauge and has only been guessed. some of the molten fuel could be exposed from the water. as for reactor number two in november, they suspected that the

but he is tepco is keeping a lid on just how severe the situation is. we're talking about tepco the company that knew that there were three nuclear meltdowns within two or three days of the tsunami and took three months to speak about it publicly and admit it publicly the credibility of chucko is not a very high level and unfortunately there are only source of information about what's happening at the plants and the secondly there's a crack in the building where the water is being filtered sandbagging the crack in the wall is the kind of remedial step that just indicates the scale of the difficulty of responding to these problems by tempo. later today a toxic threat also special report exposes the plight of unspoiled amazon rain forest and the indigenous people who are dying because of tons of industrial waste dumped by an oil giant. now russia has downgraded diplomatic relations with cutoff to an assault on moscow's envoy to doha the russian diplomat was attacked by airport security officials just as russia criticized role in the mounting international

tepco receives about 700 compensation claims every day. it gave the media a look inside the tokyo office where it is processing the paper work. 500,000 people work there. the company is under pressure to speed up the process because the number of claims it gets every day is likely to grow. >> japan's transport ministry is drawing up guidelines. satellite communications. information can be shared this way. >> "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post march 11. we have two segments offering two unique perspectives on the fall out. nuclear watch brings you insight and information on the impact. and the road ahead examines japan's efforts to recover and rebuild. don't miss nuclear watch and the road ahead on "newsline." >> next we have a report on a ground breaking concert. the vietnam national symphony orchestra made its debut at carnagie hall in new york. the orchestra's performance was aimed at deepening bilateral friendships 30 years after the vietnam war ended. nhk world reports. >> reporter: the vietnam national sym

tepco spokespersons apologized for the leak but said it is likely to have little effect on the environment. >>> engineers have checked the safety of nuclear power plants located near mountains in western japan. here is the report from kobe. >> reporter: this facility is e defense, the government-backed nuclear safety organization has been testing the country's nuclear pour plants. in tuesday's experiment, engineers created a 3.8 meter high hill using 200 tons of rock and soil. but why? because nuclear power plants in japan are often built on narrow stretches of coastal land carved from surrounding mountains. so the hill is representative of the nuclear power plants across the country. the safety organization says more than half of japan's nuclear plants are located near such mountain slopes. landslides could damage the reactors. the experiment starts. the hill was made to shake on the same wavelength as a major earthquake that struck off niigata prefecture, central japan, in 2007. and it does not collapse. >> translator: the purpose of this experiment is to obtain data needed to calculate

tepco workers cannot measure precise temperature of the melted fuel. they're working on finding out more details of what's going on inside the reactors as they were improving cooling systems on other equipment to maintain stable conditions. >> why is it so important for prime minister noda to declare a state of cold shutdown at fukushima daiichi? >> well, because it's part of the timetable to stabilize the plant and make sure that it's safe for the people to return to the area surrounding the facility. about 90,000 people have been living away from their hometown since mid march. noda says he wants to begin reviewing the zones and evacuation area that's set up around fukushima daiichi, but radiation levels are still high in many places. so the decontamination work is essential. noda said he has a plan to prepare for about $12 billion for this enormous task. so moving forward on that issue could take more time. >> miho, thanks for the report. >>> "newsline" is the place to turn to for the latest on japan post-march 11th. we have two segments offering tw

the nuclear and industrial safety agency warned tepco against using the equipment. the agency also asked the company to investigate the cause and take steps to prevent a recurrence. earlier this month, about 150 liters of water containing radioactive strontium leaked from the same equipment into the ocean. leaders of french nuclear energy giant areva say they will cut up to 1,500 jobs over the next five years, and they will suspend several projects. they say the accident at fukushima has made it difficult for those producing nuclear power. >> the company projected operating losses of up to $2.1 billion for this year. then company leaders announced a five-year plan to turn things around. they want to cut costs by $1.3 billion a year. they will cut jobs in germany following their decision to shut down and phase out nuclear reactors. they will freeze hiring of new workers in france as people retire. they will suspend construction projects there and in the u.s. and they will stop their investments in uranium mines in africa. >>> the beautiful game means different things

tepco said the leak was stopped after the device was turned off, but at least 45 tons of water containing radioactive materials may have leaked out with some portion possibly reaching a ditch outside the facility. the level of radioactive cesium had been reduced to 45 becquerels per cubic centimeter after the treatment. but the water is believed to have contained 130,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter of radioactive strontium. the ditch connects to the sea about 600 meters away. the power company is piling up sandbags in the ditch to prevent the water from flowing into the ocean. the water is used to cool down the reactors in the power plant. the utility says the leak does not pose any problems for the process. >>> workers carried out a test case for removing radioactive materials from the fukushima daiichi now clear plant in the evacuation zone around the facility. specialists commissioned by the central government have spent the past week cleaning 4.5 hectares of land around the okuma town hall. the town is inside the 20 kilometer no-entry zone around the fukushima plant. before they s

tepco has been told by the japanese government you have to consider the possibility of taking a $13 billion cash injection, possibly in the summer. talking about the fact of nationalization. in the last few moments, the japanese trade minister said it would be -- all possibilities will be considered. but $13 billion is a pretty eye- watering some of money. but it is not just the cleanup of the compensation, the victims, but people who lost their lives and livelihood. talking very serious figures. this was one of the worst nuclear disaster since -- japan's 25 years. >> interesting views and the u.s., heading into an election year. looking for signs of real economic revival. >> we do not know yet. but we should know in a couple of hours. two economists in the united states put together an index, case-shiller -- house prices might have dropped by 3.2%, but went with it -- what we are looking at is the weight of increase. not necessarily a bad thing go forward. unemployment, even though it has gone down, there are still a lot of people who have not got a job and a struggle and to pay mortgages.

tep tepco's report said there is no way it could have prepared. the authors interviewed hundreds of people including government officials and workers and said the approach damaged public trust in the relief efforts. >> the head of the report's investigative panel said when those in charge said the tsunami was beyond what they conceived it was a denial of responsibility. that attitude he said may have led to the lack of precautions that had been taken. the report won't recommend a move away from nuclear power but it will be full of lessons when 23 is released the middle of next year. >> there was a time when the word "the end" meant that at the cinema. this year it means don't worry there will be a sequel. hollywood released a record 28 sequels it year. our entertainment reporter investigates why the film industry put its faith in franchises. >> there were no strangers at the box office in 2011. in fact some were all too familiar and the eighth and final harry potter was the biggest. but they were all sequels. apart from this one and that was the s

and they say that people at tepco don't know, either. on tonight's "nuclear watch's" nech world's commentator misino look at some of the relations between the government. >> it does seem as if the plant is no longer in the dangerous state it was in immediately after the accident. it appears as if things have calmed down a great deal, but there is still much instability. the power plant is not yet completely safe. and i question whether it can be said that the accident has been contained. the most important thing to find out right now is the temperature of the molten fuel and the cooling water. at reactor number one, however, they believe that most of the molten fuel has fallen to the bottom of the containment vessel where there is no thermometer. the amount of water has not been measured accurately with a water gauge and has only been guessed. some of the molten fuel could be exposed from the water. as for reactor number two in november, they suspected that the plant had gone critical again with continuous nuclear fission occurring. that