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American Morning

How Japan's Nuclear Crisis Compares to Other Accidents; Japan Quake Survivor Tells His Story; Japan's Nuclear Crisis Deepens; A Criminal Past; "Breakdown in Law and Order"; Flooding Damage; Oil Production Stops; Newspapers: A Dying Breed?; Decision Time; The Budget Ax; Gottfried Fired as Aflac Duck

Aired March 15, 2011 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now. Four nuclear reactors damaged, dangerous levels of radiation. It's a race against time to stop a nuclear catastrophe. A race the Japanese government appears to be losing on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. It's Tuesday, March 15th, and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Christine Romans.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Thanks for being with us.

Unfortunately, not that much good news this morning to tell you about. It really is a race against time in Japan right now after four reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Station in Japan have now been compromised either by explosions or fire. Three of them melting down, at least partially, with dangerous radioactive material now spewing into the atmosphere leaving a lot of questions this morning, including how much radioactivity is actually in the air and where will the wind carry it?

Senior international correspondent, Stan Grant, is live in Tokyo this morning. By all accounts, this crisis seems to, you know, certainly, overwhelmed -- has certainly overwhelmed the Japanese government. What is the latest on what they're putting out there this morning?

STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, it is a crisis that just seems to large (ph) from one hour to the next. And really, to uncharted territory here when you're talking about four different reactors now being stricken to some degree.

Most of the attention today is focused on the number two reactor and number four. There was a high explosion in number two earlier today. There are concerns that may have affected the containment vessel which surrounds and protects the nuclear fuel rods there in the core of the reactor. That's where the really bad sort of radioactivity lives.

There was also a fire in the number four reactor. This is also alarming because what happened here were the fuel rods that were in a pool. What they believe is so much heat had been generated. But the water evaporated leaving those also exposed and they caught fire.

Now, after that, there was an alarming spike in the radiation level, particularly inside the plant. It had gone 1,000 times higher than it had previously. But that number has fallen back outside the plan itself.

But the government is warning people in a 20 kilometer 12-mile radius that's been stretched out another 10 kilometers to stay inside, close the doors, close down the windows and not get affected by this. People concerned about what the radiation means, Kiran.

CHETRY: Absolutely. Stan, how do they fix this? What's the plan?

GRANT: Yes, the real problem is how to get inside the reactor and see what's going on. The race is going to try to cool down these reactors that have been heating up. They say they stabilized one, two, and three now, but five and six have been warming up a little.

But until they can actually get in there and have a look, how much this integration has gone on, whether this casing that protects the reactor, that's what they need to get a closer look. Until they cool it down, they really can't do that.

CHETRY: Stan Grant for us this morning in Tokyo. Thanks so much.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: So with so much radiation being released into the atmosphere in northeast Japan, wind direction has been a critical key here. Meteorologist Jennifer Delgado joins us from the CNN center in Atlanta. How much radiation is coming from this area? And where is it going? Where are the winds carrying it? What do we know right now, Jennifer?

JENNIFER DELGADO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Christine. Over the last couple of hours, we've been seeing the winds coming onshore. Well, that's certainly not what we want to see, because that is actually going to potentially continue to push that radioactive material towards populated areas.

And you're seeing on this graphic right now the winds coming through, and again, you have to keep in mind the Fukushima Daiichi plant with that actually leaking, it's pushing that in the lower levels over toward the west.

Now, again, today there is going to be a bit of improvement, or I should say tomorrow local time, as an area of low pressure's going to be dropping in and shifting the winds towards the northwest. And that's going to shift those winds over to that northwesterly flow. And that's good news. Those winds are going to be quite gusty. That's going to help mix that how far the atmosphere.

Everybody's wondering s this in the jet stream? Certainly we're dealing with a leak. It hasn't been an explosion to be caught up in the jet stream. That is good news. And the flow out of the jet stream has been out of the northwest and that offshore flow.

I want to point out to you, let's talk about the weather across parts of Japan. We're going to see it deteriorate through the evening and overnight. We're going to be dealing with cold rain as well as the snow. And that will be moving through parts, the earthquake-hit area as well as the tsunami region.

People are homeless, they don't have any belongings, any warm clothes, and the temperatures are going to be quite cold. They're going to fall below freezing as we go through tonight as well as tomorrow. Temperatures will struggle to make it to 39 degrees.

Also I want to update you on the earthquake aftershock. As I take you over to our Google earth, I want to show you that graphic. Notice all the dots in yellow as well as in orange. We've had more than 425 aftershocks since the initial 9.0 earthquake that happened. And of course, the USGS upgraded that magnitude yesterday from 8.9 to 9.0. But the last one was actually a 6.0 with a depth of about 9.5 miles. It certainly was pretty shallow and located about 103 miles away from Sendai, Japan.

And you have to keep in mind we're going to continue to see the potential of more earthquakes even as we go through the next year.

ROMANS: Thank you.

DELGADO: You're welcome.

CHETRY: Amid all the destruction and despair, there is a rare moment of hope. Found in the rubble alive 96 hours after the quake an elderly man on a stretcher after rescuers were able to find him under tons of debris.

Well, a lot of fast-moving parts to this dangerous situation unfolding in Japan. I want to bring in Jim Walsh. He's an international security analyst and CNN contributor, also research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Thanks for joining us this morning.

JIM WALSH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good to be with you.

CHETRY: What we're really looking for right now is a little bit of perspective. As we just heard from Stan Grant, concerns at four different reactors, concerns about water evaporating, the fire in one, and how much of this radioactive material may be leaking out into the atmosphere. What is your take on what is going on and how they fix it?

WALSH: Well, Kiran, we're in this very strange place where each morning I wake up is that the good news is the bad news isn't quite as bad as it first looked, but things seem to be getting worse. And we saw that with what happened overnight tonight. There was a fire at a spent fuel pond. That is very bad. And we can talk more about that later. But they were able to put the fire out. There was explosion at reactor number two. There was fear that might have led to eruption of the containment vessel. Now people are a little less sure of that.

So these things are happening. They look very bad in the beginning, maybe not quite as bad as they first look, but still the situation is deteriorating.

ROMANS: There's no -- there's no pleasant surprise in any of this. It's all varying degrees of dangerous and not what people who watch radiation and nuclear issues are concerned about.

You were talking about the spent fuel pond. Why was that so dangerous? And what does that signal to you?

WALSH: That's something that my colleagues and I have been worried about for some time, and the government had said nothing about it. The way the plans work is they burn up that fuel to produce electricity and that creates waste. And a waste is a nasty brew of highly radioactive materials.

And at least in Japan, not everywhere - in the U.S. we bury that. In Japan they try to recycle it. But often it sits at the reactor site while it's waiting to be sent to reprocessing plant. And it is a substance that also like the inside of the reactor has to stay cool, has to be covered in water. And when it's not, then it will catch fire. And if it catches fire, that plume will be highly radioactive.

So what happens? It did catch fire at reactor number four. And that's why people suspect the radiation spiked and then later, declined after they put the fire out. But you know each of these reactors may have spent fuels at them, and those spent fuel ponds are vulnerable.

CHETRY: And Jim, what happens to these 50 workers that are left behind to try to get to the bottom of this? What are they doing? And are they going to survive this?

WALSH: You know, I'm so glad you asked me that question, because I really wanted to speak to this. A lot of people, myself included, have been critical of the utility. They've not always been forthcoming, seem to be confused. And I know this is a tough situation.

But I don't think any criticism of the facility should be confused with how I feel and how the workers feel. The utility has sent all but 50 workers away because it was so dangerous. These men and women are taking great personal risk. They're putting their lives on the line. My guess is many of them will pay the ultimate price. And they're doing it because they care about their country and because someone has to stay.

You know, the other issue here is that each day we sort of discover a new problem. And here's the new problem. If you have multiple reactors that are next to each other and you need to be working on three or four or reactors to try to keep them from melting down and you have a big problem at one of them, then you're going to have to send the workers away, but who is left to continue to manage the problems at the other four reactors? And what happens if things get so radioactive you can't gain access to the reactors that continue to need attention and work? So this is the sort of situation we're in right now.

ROMANS: I think that's an incredible point about those workers who may be ultimately held as national heroes in Japan for staying behind and doing this work to try to cool these plants. CNN contributor CNN Jim Walsh. Thanks, Jim. Right now, U.S. stocks on track for a big selloff too. Carmen Wong Ulrich is back to tell us about this story.

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday wasn't so bad, but today we're really feeling it. The nuclear crisis in Japan is hitting all the markets today. That Nikkei drop was the worst since 2008. And all the Asian markets closed down. In Europe markets are down between two percent to over four percent in Germany.

And after a small loss in the Dow yesterday of only 0.4 percent, NASDAQ was down nearly 15 points and the S&P down almost eight. But this morning, the Dow, the NASDAQ and S&P futures are signaling a much bigger selloff today. Futures are all down two percent or more.

Now, globally, there's a selloff of metal, gold, silver, and platinum. After rising one percent yesterday, gold is down one percent today, so far platinum dropping more than one percent. Why the selloff? Well, the heavy pressure on metal is lagging demand. Precious metals are used in the manufacturing of chips as well as cars and trucks, two of the power house businesses that have to shut down this week.

ROMANS: Dow down, futures down.

ULRICH I'll keep you updated.

ROMANS: Thank you.

Next on "American Morning," with Japan's nuclear threat growing, we're going to look at how it compares to notorious incidents of the past. Jason Carroll will have that story.

CHETRY: Also, amazing stories of survival at one of the busiest hospitals in the disaster zone. Sanjay Gupta had a chance to sit down with people who survived this catastrophe. It's 11 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to "American Morning." we're getting brand new images of Japan showing the destruction of the tsunami. This video shot by James McWhite who is living in Tokyo. His camera captured an entire town being washed awe way.

CHETRY: And we have other amateur video for us. This is northeast Japan. And it captures the moment that the tsunami came crashing ashore, crushing buildings and taking out everything in its path.

ROMANS: And take a look at this video of the tsunami slamming into the coast, waves as high as 30 feet. It was obtained by the NHK World Network and contained some of the most graphic pictures to date - a 30-feet tall wall of water.

CHETRY: It's unbelievable to see these. And again, we're still getting this video in. Some communication breakdowns obviously because of the aftermath, but amazing still to see them. Meantime, we're also following the latest on Japan's nuclear crisis going from bad to worse. Some say this could be the worst accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago.

ROMANS: CNN's Jason Carroll is measuring the current threat against previous meltdowns. He joins us now. And we try to put it in perspective from what we know about it, what we've heard before because this is just such a dangerous and unique experience we're trying to grasp for some sort of mile markers.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it's an ongoing situation so in some ways it's hard to draw some comparisons since the situation is still evolving.

ROMANS: Right.

CARROLL: But, you know, reactor operators thought they were gaining the upper hand. But late last night, the battle was on again to control the damaged nuclear plant. Japanese power officials say the amount of radiation around the plant rose to six times higher than permissible levels. The crisis still underway and already comparisons being drawn to previous nuclear accidents.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): Last night, another explosion, and more problems for operators fighting to stabilize the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility.

NAOTA KAN, JAPAN'S PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Radiation has sped in front of these reactors and the reading of the level seems very high. And there is still a very high risk of further radioactive material from coming out.

CARROLL: The Japanese power officials cannot rule out the possibility a partial meltdown has already occurred. Observers questioning if the problems in Japan will end up like two other crises in nuclear history. April 1986, explosion at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant, Chernobyl, causes the worst nuclear disaster in history. Thirty are killed. A United Nations report documents more than 6,000 cases of cancer for people exposed to the affected area. March 1979, a partial reactor meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear facility, releases radioactive material. No one is killed. But cleanup takes years, making it the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.

Ron Karzmar helped develop the control panels and nuclear sensors at the Fukushima facility 40 years ago.

RON KARZMAR, PHYSICIST & ENGINEER: I'm concerned -- very concerned.

CARROLL: William Tucker authored a book on nuclear power.

WILLIAM TUCKER, AUTHOR, "TERRESTIAL ENERGY": This is not and never could or will be a Chernobyl. That's out of the question because --

CARROLL (on camera): Why is that? TUCKER: Well, very simply -- they didn't have a containment structure on top of the reactor.

CARROLL (voice-over): Fukushima does have a containment chamber, a giant building of concrete and steel. And its reactors protectively shut down after the earthquake. Then an emergency system pumps in water to cool the facility's fuel rods, but the cooling system failed so did the backup system when the tsunami hit. Now operators are using seawater to try and cool the fuel rods and prevent a meltdown.

KENNETH BERGERON, NUCLEAR PHYSICIST: It's a very frightening situation. And we can only hope for the best, hope that these containments survive. Hope that, you know, meltdown doesn't occur.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Well, some scientists say the best-case scenario is the situation in Japan -- that the situation in Japan ends up like Three Mile Island. A partial meltdown occurred and radiation was released at Three Mile after a faulty valve caused its reactor to overheat. But after a period of time, the EPA found no contamination in the water or soil around Three Mile Island.

CHETRY: Yes, and that's important to note because we -- I mean, Three Mile Island, when you say that, that strikes fear in the heart of every American.

ROMANS: Yes.

CHETRY: But really at the end of the day, they say that what -- it was the equivalent of a chest x-ray?

CARROLL: Exactly. Exactly. But once again, we also have to note that this situation in Japan is still ongoing.

ROMANS: Yes.

CARROLL: And some scientists say it's already at the point of a Three Mile Island.

ROMANS: And just the fear of Three Mile Island and that happening again is what kept nuclear development in this country for energy purposes stalled for --

CARROLL: Right.

CHETRY: For 30 years because of that. So it is scary stuff. Jason, thank you.

CARROLL: You bet.

CHETRY: Still coming up, in about 10 minutes, we're going to be speaking with David Brenner. He's with the center -- director of the Center of Radiological Research at Columbia University. There are so many questions about the radiation exposure. You hear that people 12 miles out from the plant told to leave, 20 miles out from the plant told to stay indoors. How much radiation can cause harm to humans? So we're going to be speaking about that.

ROMANS: We're also going to continue to monitor the latest news in Japan in a moment. But first, this other news happening this morning we want to catch you up to speed on. Still to come, Mississippi is absolutely soaked. A storm swept through the state and we now have stunning video of just how hard the rain pounded that area.

CHETRY: Also, it's an iPad and now it's a TV. We're going to tell you about an innovative new app that brings your favorite shows right to your tablet. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We're back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Yes, they're still rising, your gas prices. Let's catch you up on some other stories happening this Tuesday morning.

Hawaii has reached that dreaded milestone. AAA reporting it's the first state to hit an average of $4 at the pump. That's just for one gallon of regular. It hasn't been this high since 2008. Philly (ph) is the state beat out California, which has an average of $3.96.

CHETRY: Well, you know what they say, no matter how much you have, you always want more. Right?

Well, more than four out of 10 Americans who are millionaires say they don't feel rich. I guess $1 million doesn't go as far as it used to. In fact, they did a Fidelity Investment survey of millionaires, and many say that they would need to have at least $7.5 million in the bank to be considered truly wealthy. Why is this? Because experts believe that they're worried about outliving their assets.

ROMANS: And you do need a quarter million dollars in your pocket cash just to pay for your share of medical expenses.

CHETRY: Wait, a quarter of a million cash --

ROMANS: Yes, to pay for your share of medical expenses. So you can see --

CHETRY: What you're saying a quarter million in cash at the time you retire?

ROMANS: Yes.

CHETRY: Plus we're living longer and longer. So --

ROMANS: Yes. I still think $7.5 million is a lot of money.

A big mess in Mississippi. Heavy rains, fierce winds ripped through the state yesterday. Parts of highways were shut down and thousands of homes lost power. But most power was restored by the evening. Almost the entire state has been under a flood warning since last Wednesday.

CHETRY: Well, I guess there's nothing the iPad can't do now. You can get your TV on it. Time Warner Cable launching a free app today that allows subscribers to watch live television on their Apple tablet. Thirty cable channels are available including MTV and Comedy Central. But don't take your iPad too far. It only works inside your home. They probably always have a catch like that. Time Warner plans to expand the app soon by including an on-demand function.

ROMANS: All right. Back to our top story this morning, the disaster in Japan. And up next on AMERICAN MORNING, an American living in Japan is going to tell us how he survived the earthquake and what it took to find his girlfriend after disaster struck.

CHETRY: We're also going to talk with a nuclear expert about the risk from radiation in Japan and whether it could eventually pose a threat to the United States.

It's 25 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: It's about half past the hour. Here are your top stories this Tuesday morning.

There's been another explosion in one of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Japan and a fire at another reactor there is out now. That means four reactors at the facility have been damaged. Dangerous levels of radiation are being discharged into the atmosphere, and anyone within 20 miles of the plant is being told to stay indoors.

CHETRY: The tsunami that ravaged Japan last week caused an estimated $40 million worth of damage in California. Much of it coming into Santa Cruz harbor where the state's Emergency Management Agency reports 18 vessels sank and 100 others were damaged, 12 still unaccounted for.

ROMANS: And German Chancellor Angela Merkel says seven of her country's nuclear reactors built before 1980 will be shut down for three months for a safety review. She's also announcing a suspension of plans to extend the life of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors.

CHETRY: Well, our next guest, an American living in Japan survived the earthquake. He survived the he tsunami, and is now recounting his ordeal.

ROMANS: His pictures really are worth a thousand words. Zack Branham sent us this video of the devastation. He joins us now from Kuji City, Japan, via Skype.

These pictures, you and also your girlfriend took some of these pictures. You after the disaster you started walking. What happened? What were you doing?

ZACK BRANHAM, QUAKE SURVIVOR: Well, I knew that my girlfriend actually lives in a village about 15 minutes to the south of where I live. And her village is actually situated right on a beach front. And I had no idea at that point because after the initial earthquake on Friday afternoon and the tsunami, we were left with no Internet or phone connections. And they had closed the roads at that point, I believe, you know, I had no way of getting hold of her. And so what else to do at that point except for try and walk in.

ROMANS: We're seeing these pictures. It looks out of your window. So you're watching the tsunami come in and then when it was clear you decided to just start walking. You walked from what? Twenty hours before you found her.

BRANHAM: Yes. Actually, I had tried getting in the city a couple of different times the night before and was actually turned away on several occasions. About three different occasions by the police. And eventually the next morning about 5:30 a.m. I was up and walking into the city. Got actually into the village about 6:00 a.m. and managed to actually work my way past the police by literally pulling down my hat so as my face wouldn't be shown and falling in line with a group of emergency workers who actually I followed into the city until I could find a path through. But it was a pretty terrifying experience at that point.

CHETRY: And it sounds like sheer luck that you even eventually located your girlfriend. You said that you were able to find her and this is also disturbing she was actually cutting up tablecloths. She was trying to cover some of the bodies around her.

BRANHAM: Yes, it really was sheer luck. I mean, the main road, note the village itself is actually quite a small village. And there's actually only one main road to the downtown. And her office - her and I both are actually assistant language teachers, teaching English here in Japan. And her main board of education office, there's the one road to Noda, and it was completely blocked.

When I first found myself in Noda, there was a two-story home actually washed right in the middle of the main street blocking the way. And beyond that were even more homes. So I was lucky enough, like I said, to follow the emergency workers and the Japanese military around to a back road, more of a path that has now since been turned into a road and worked my way to her apartment, she wasn't there, worked my way to one of her kindergartens she taught at, which was completely washed away at that point.

I went to one of her junior high schools. They told me she was at her elementary school. On the way to the elementary school, they hadn't seen her. And that was about, you know, after four hours, three and half, fours that morning walking.

ROMANS: Wow.

BRANHAM: And I was just lucky enough to run into two of the employees of her board of education, which spoke no English and my Japanese is quite limited, so it was really lucky we were able to communicate because I was carrying one of her business cards around with me and recognized it and were able to tell me she was in a building in the downtown Noda area and that they would take me to there.

ROMANS: Oh, Zack we're so glad that you were able to find her and we're so glad that both of you are safe. And the pictures are really - are really amazing. Thanks for bringing those to us. Zack Branham, an American living in Japan. Thank you.

BRANHAM: Thank you very much.

CHETRY: Thanks, Zack.

Well, one of the major concerns in Japan right now is the amount of radiation that's been released from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility. People as far as 20 miles away have now been told to stay in their homes. And closer to the facility they actually were evacuated.

ROMANS: Another critical question on how far and where will the winds carry all this? Could it pose a threat for the U.S.? Joining us now David Brenner, the director of the Center for Radiological Research here at Columbia University in New York. And you know, "The Wall Street Journal" pointed that there's a run on these IOSAT pills, these iodine pills in the United States because people are concerned and are buying these $10 packets of 14 pills because they want to take precautions. Is that an overreaction?

DAVID BRENNER, CENTER FOR RADIOLOGICAL RESEARCH, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: It certainly is an overreaction. First of all, the amount of radioactivity in absolutely the worst scenario that's going to reach the United States is minimal. There's going to be no health risk to anybody in the U.S. but even in Japan, these (INAUDIBLE) pills, these iodine pills are really not so effective.

ROMANS: What do they do? They flood the thyroid with iodine to replace what would have been absorbed by the radioactive material that would have been absorbed, the protection against thyroid cancer and leukemia.

BRENNER: That's the general idea. But in fact, almost the entire path, radioactive iodine getting into the thyroid is by milk. It's via the cow who are eating the (INAUDIBLE) -

ROMANS: That's what happened after Chernobyl.

BRENNER: -drinking the milk. So the simplest solution is simply not to drink the milk. You won't get iodine.

CHETRY: Well, let's back up a little bit and talk about the situation developing and we heard a couple of live reports from people that were there saying that the problem now is that there could be four different breaches. Meaning that four of the reactors are all undergoing some form of trouble and - and some form of not being able to work. What are your biggest concerns right now as they try to stem this before more radioactive material leaks?

BRENNER: Well, really two issues here. The first is, just how much radioactivity is going to eventually leak out of these four plants? And, of course, we don't know the answer to that as yet. The other big part of the story is the wind. The wind is absolutely crucial here. By and large the wind is blowing offshore, meaning that the activity is going to be blowing in towards the ocean, which is a good thing.

CHETRY: How long does it take that to disperse? Let's say that it does go in the right direction, it flows away from population centers. How long until that cloud is not dangerous to humans?

BRENNER: Well, that depends on how long the source is there, how long the radio activity is being emitted from the reactors. Once that stops, within a few days the main part of the cloud will dissipate.

ROMANS: You know, there's normal - we get radio - we're exposed to radiation all the time.

BRENNER: That's right.

ROMANS: In the atmosphere, when you go - when you fly, when you go to an airport, when you go to the dentist. What we're talking about here, put it in laymen's terms, I guess, the kinds of radiation that we're talking about. What are people in the plant experiencing, the people outside the plant? The people in Tokyo, maybe the people on the ships, in the shipping lanes?

BRENNER: So let's start with the people inside the plant. And their situation is not great. It's pretty clear they will be getting very high doses of radiation and certainly the potential for lethal doses of radiation. So you can -

ROMANS: And they know it, don't they?

BRENNER: They know it, and I think you have to call these people heroes. I mean, they're working in incredibly tough circumstances.

CHETRY: It's tragic.

BRENNER: They know they may be getting lethal doses of radiation.

ROMANS: People around have been told to stay indoors.

BRENNER: They have, but more to the point, they've been told to evacuate the immediate region of the plant. That's the key just to stay away. And I think at this point in time, this no real evidence that there are health risks to the general population, the doses, the doses that we're hearing about are all at the gates of the plant itself and they're also very variable. They're spiking up and down and that probably reflects what's actually going on in the plant.

CHETRY: And just quickly, what are the key factors that you'll be looking for today in terms of progress if they get a handle on this?

BRENNER: Well, I think we're looking for lack of progress in many ways. If we see more spikes in radiation exposure, that means that there will more releases of radiation. And again, we're really keeping our fingers crossed about the wind direction.

ROMANS: Right.

BRENNER: That's central to the whole story. ROMANS: David Brenner, director of the Center for Radiological Research at Columbia University, thank you for joining us.

BRENNER: Thank you.

CHETRY: Good to have you with us.

We'll continue to monitor the latest news in Japan in a moment. First other news happening this morning, as well.

Severe flooding. We've been dealing with it in many parts of the northeast. New Jersey hit hard in particular for more than a week now. The state now turning to the feds for help. When will families be allowed to go back home? And will there be livable homes to return to?

ROMANS: And some states are so broke, folks, are even considering cutting out the presidential primaries to save a little cash. Is this a good idea? You're watching "American Morning." We're back after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Welcome back to "American Morning." Amidst the devastation in Japan, there's still hope and stories of extraordinary rescues. In fact, Japan's prime minister says 15,000 people have been rescued.

Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is live in Akita, Japan. Sanjay, you went to one of the busiest hospitals in the disaster zone, didn't you?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We did. And, you know, imagine any healthcare system in the world really being prepared for something like this, Christine. It's nearly impossible. The types of injuries, the number of the sheer volume, as well. We wanted to get an idea of how a hospital like this prepares, how they operate during all this through the eyes of one of their patients. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): The images are tough to watch. But as I learned, the stories are even harder to hear. You see those cars being tossed around like toys? Well, this man, Hiaboshi was in one of them and lived to tell about it.

(on camera): So you were looking out your window and saw all the water coming?

He tried to escape, but it was too late.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Over and over I was hit, he said, and then his car flooded.

GUPTA (voice-over): He was slowly drowning, and so he tried to smash the window with his right hand. Finally, he got the car to open, but the water pinned the door back on his hips and his leg. Mr. Hiaboshi (ph) doesn't know how he was saved. The next thing he remembered was pulling up in the ambulance to Saka (ph) hospital.

(on camera): As you might imagine, triage is a big deal at a place like this. Here at Saka Hospital, they basically categorize patients into four categories immediately. Green if it was a relatively minor injury, yellow if it was more serious, red if it was very serious, and black if the patient had died. When Mr. Hiaboshi (ph) came in, he was considered a red.

(voice-over): Critically injured, his life was now in the hands of Dr. Takanori Sasaki.

(on camera): It's important to point out that Dr. Sasaki, he's been here since Friday. He never left the hospital since the earthquake occurred and has been taking care of these patients, has headed the emergency room.

(voice-over): Day after day, Saka Hospital stayed open with the Dr. Sasaki in charge, taking care of hundreds of patients. In Japan, near drownings and cardiac arrest are the most common serious injuries seen, followed by head and crush injuries.

(on camera): Now, Dr. Sasaki has been here since Friday and I want to give you an idea of how busy the busiest hospital has been after the earthquake and the tsunami, 600 patients seen here over the last several days, 79 patients remain, 13 patients have died.

(voice-over): Watching Hiaboshi (ph) closely, it is clear he is haunted by what happened to him. The tsunami robbed him of just about everything. In fact, you're looking at all he has left. But then, a rare smile. And he tells me almost in disbelief, "I am still alive."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: An emotional and mental impact as you see there, Christine. You know, one thing you may not know is this area where the tsunami hit is primarily a retirement community. A lot of elderly people live there. So if you look at the age of the people who were most affected. There were a lot more elderly than a lot of other natural disasters. He's going to heal physically. But you know, you get an idea of just how difficult it is going to be for him to return to a normal way of life. He's displaced. He's obviously still going to be recovering from his injuries and he has no specific place to go. So that's going to be sort of a long-term challenge for him and so many others like him, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Great images. Thanks so much, Sanjay Gupta. Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Christine.

A convicted criminal behind the wheel. A tour bus driver involved in that deadly, horrific crash on Saturday. One of the deadliest we've seen in New York. Has a history of run-ins with the law. Now they're investigating why he was able to obtain a commercial driver's license in the first place. Also, a very stormy start to the morning in parts of the south and Ohio Valley, as well. We're going to get an update coming up, as well. It's 45 minutes past the hour.

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ROMANS: It's 47 minutes past the hour and that means it's time for this morning's top stories.

A convicted felon driving a tour bus involved in the deadly crash in New York City.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS (voice-over): Police say Opidel Williams served prison time for manslaughter and grand larceny. Williams was also caught driving with a suspended license twice. He claims he swerved to avoid a truck. Fifteen people died. Williams has not been charged in this case.

CHETRY (voice-over): In a dire warning, the U.S. State Department urging Americans not to travel to Bahrain. If they're already there, the State Department is telling them to leave.

The State Department says there's been a breakdown in law and order. The ongoing civil and political protests are getting more violent. But it said that Americans have not been targeted in the demonstrations.

Meantime, Saudi Arabia is sending more than 1,000 troops to act as, quote, "peace keepers," something that is upsetting some in the country of Bahrain.

ROMANS: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is asking for a presidential disaster declaration. Severe flooding ripped through northern New Jersey last week, wiping out cars, damaging homes. Right now it's unclear how much the damage will cost, but Christie says the state will need relief money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: You hear from these poor homeowners, they said we went through this exact same thing last year, filed all of our insurance claims. The same exact things are destroyed again and they don't know what to do, but a tough situation there.

It's 48 minutes past the hour. Let's check in with Jennifer Delgado, she has a look at the weather headlines in the Extreme Weather Center. Hey, Jennifer.

JENNIFER DELGADO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. Hi, Christine. Well, I also want to point out that the flooding you're talking about in parts of New Jersey. It looks like we're going to start to see the river slowly receding as we go through the next few days so we should see that going right around moderate flood stage. But let's talk about what's happening right now on the radar, some heavy rain out there from the Midwest all the way down towards the south. If you're driving through parts of Atlanta right now through Georgia, the heaviest rainfall moving out of the area, but certainly going to see that moving over towards the east.

In addition to the rain, we are still tracking snow out there, light snow through parts of the Dakotas. You can see it through parts of North and South Dakota, we are expecting about 1 inch, but really it's not going to cause too much of a delay.

On a wider view, clouds to the north, clouds to the southwest and of course, more snowfall moving into the Pacific Northwest. We're talking in some of those higher elevations we could see about 5 to 8 inches of snowfall and a little less down in some of those lower regions.

But again, the storm system I showed you that was producing that rain right now through parts of the southeast and Midwest, well, that's going to be moving over towards the northeast and that's going to be bringing rain through parts of New York as well as New Jersey as we move through Wednesday.

And now, I want to leave you with some video coming out of South America, very sad news. In fact, as we go right over to it, you're looking at some widespread flooding. Reportedly 10 people died after days of heavy rainfall. Now, 8,000 people are left homeless in Southern Brazil.

Typically, they see about 6 inches of rainfall across this region and 23,000 people have been affected. You have to keep in mind Southern Brazil has been dealing with some heavy rainfall really since the beginning of the year. You can see roads are covered.

You see really it looks like a lake and they also dealt with some mudslides, as well as landslides. Brazil takes it tough in those summer months.

Right now, we send it back over to Christine, as well as Kiran, and we'll talk a little bit more about the winds and how it potentially affect the radioactive material across parts of Japan in the next hour.

ROMANS: Crucial information. Jennifer, thanks so much. More stories of survival. We're going to speak with one man who lived through Japan's earthquake while on the water's edge and he captured all of the events on camera.

CHETRY: Also radiation risks in Japan. We've been talking a lot about this morning. There is so much unknown, but is the crisis having affect for plans for America's future when it comes to nuclear energy? Jim Acosta is following that for us.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROMANS: Oil production is getting to halt in Libya. The International Atomic Energy Agency says the country's exports have stopped almost completely because of fierce fighting and civil unrest around oil towns.

The war has damaged infrastructures and facilities. The IAEA says exports could be off the mark for many months. Libya produces nearly 1.3 billion barrels each day.

CHETRY: Also, reading a newspaper seems to be a thing of the past, at least for a lot of people. They did a survey at the Pointer Institute and found that more people are now getting their news from the internet instead of from actual newspapers.

Last year also marked the first time that more money went into online advertising. Web news is, of course, gaining popularity quickly. It's the only source that attracts a bigger audience year after year.

ROMANS: The Federal Reserve policymakers are meeting today. On top of the agenda, interest rates. They're going to have to take into consideration the current economy coupled with the crisis abroad. But experts predict interest rates are already record lows will not be changed. That decision is expected this afternoon.

CHETRY: Well, even the presidency seem to be on a budget chopping block the late. Cash-strapped states are now looking to either delay or outright cancel their 2012 presidential primaries, which could in turn save millions of dollars.

So for example, California, if they delayed their primaries until June apparently the state could save as much as $100 million and another option for states to hand over the nominating process to party-run caucuses.

ROMANS: And Gilbert Gottfried has lost his voice. Aflac fired the comedian behind the commercial "Quack" after he tweeted some tasteless jokes about the disaster in Japan. Gottfried has been part of Aflac ad campaign since 2000. Company statements says his comments were lacking in humor and do not represent the thoughts of anyone at Aflac. Aflac does 75 percent of its business in Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: There is your key. I saw a lot of inappropriate tweets coming. I don't know if people didn't understand the scope of it, but, you know, there's a lot of tasteless jokes out there.

ROMANS: Yes. Some people, I think are trying to be clever. The former State Department spokesman had a tweet he had to take back, too so, yes, interesting.

CHETRY: All right, well, still ahead, we are going to continue to follow what is going on in Japan, including new concerns about the reactors at the Daiichi plant there. We're going to get the latest for you and some live reports from Japan coming up. It's four minutes until the top of the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)