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Nuclear Crisis in Japan; Rescue Crews Continue to Assess Damaged Caused to Japanese Cities by Recent Earthquake and Tsunami; American Officials Seek to Reassure Citizens that Domestic Nuclear Power Plants Are Safe; Pro-Gadhafi Forces Take Important Libyan Towns from Rebels; G-8 Meets to Discuss Constructing No-Fly Zone Over Libya

Aired March 14, 2011 - 15:00   ET

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

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Brooke, you can't help but want to help these people when you look at those images.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. CNN.com/impact, let's reiterate that over and over. Randi, thank you so much.

And I want to begin this newscast today with an image I cannot shake, an entire village wiped out in 90 seconds, 90 seconds for the ocean to swell and overtake this one town while those who live there, those who had moved quickly enough watched from higher ground.

Watch this with me.

Doesn't that just take your breath away? Imagine you're one of the fortunate few standing perched atop this hill watching your home, your town, people scrambling in the bottom left, watching it all just being wiped away. That was Friday afternoon in Miyagi Prefecture along the east coast of Japan.

But the twin forces of the earthquake and that tsunami that followed were just the beginning. Look at this with me now. We have the satellite photo from Digital Globe and it shows the damage to the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The radiation levels at the front gate of this facility doubled today. So we're going to get to the danger lurking there in just a moment, and also the new U.S. response to that.

But, first, I want to talk about these incredible stories of survival. So far, some 15,000 people reportedly have been saved in Japan. One of the most amazing rescues happened offshore. Let's watch this together. You're going to see this man. He's floating. He's floating. Do you see him, arms up in the air, floating on what's left of the roof of his home?

He says he was holding on for dear life as he was washed nine miles out to sea. He was finally spotted by someone, rescued by the men in that boat. That was Sunday, two days after the tsunami. His wife was swept away.

Also, watch this. Watch very carefully. Can you see through the rear of this car little bit of movement? People above on a rooftop had obviously amazing eyesight, saw movement in that car. It was a hand moving. So they yelled for a rescue team nearby, who pulled out this elderly woman. Here she comes out of the car. She says her car was carried away by the tsunami and covered in mud and debris.

She and two friends were trapped inside that car for more than 20 hours, 20 hours. Imagine. And rescue teams are paddling down streets going from home to home trying to spot survivors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we getting her?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She needs water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Boating along, helping provide water, looking for signs of life. Expert teams from almost a dozen countries are helping Japan find and rescue survivors amidst the earthquake, the rubble, the tsunami.

And we have had one, we have had two, now there are three, three atomic power reactors all in danger of a meltdown. I want to circle back here and talk precisely about what that means. But you know already not good news. And now the Japanese have issued a call to Washington for help.

Jeanne Meserve live in D.C.

And, Jeanne, what specifically are the Japanese asking for from the U.S.?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, you know, the entire world community has been offering their expertise to the Japanese ever since this crisis with the nuclear reactors began.

Today, finally, a formal request to both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA. The NRC already had two people on the ground who are experts in this particular kind of reactor. They were in large part providing advice to the U.S. Embassy and also acting as a liaison with the Japanese government.

But now U.S. officials say that a larger team is being assembled. In addition, an official from the Department of Energy said at a White House briefing today that the Japanese have asked for equipment to help them deal with this cooling problem, which is central to what they're dealing with at those plants over in Japan.

But, overall, the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, expressed confidence in the Japanese ability to deal with the situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have full confidence in the capacity of Japan to address the economic challenges during these exceptionally difficult times. You know, we're monitoring, as we do always, the global economic environment, but we stand ready to assist the Japanese who are our friends and allies in any way that we can, and it's important to remember that the Japanese have demonstrated a greatly resiliency and an ability to pull together during times of adversity. And we are confident that they will overcome this challenge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: The problems in Japan, of course, led to questions about the safety of U.S. nuclear plants.

There are 104 of them. Some of them are on fault lines or near them, and some of them would be vulnerable to tsunamis. But officials at the White House briefing today said that all those things were taken into account when designing those plants and drawing up plans for those plants.

At this point in time, they believe that nuclear facilities in the U.S. would be safe from this kind of event. But clearly they're going to be watching all the information that comes out of Japan, and they will be assessing whether or not additional steps need to be taken here -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes. And I think the cooling issue in Japan probably an understatement when you talk to some of these nuclear physicists, as I will here in a matter of minutes. Jeanne Meserve, my thanks to you.

And we will get to Chad here in a moment, because I want to circle back here. In fact I want to take you back to Saturday. Massive explosion blows the roof off the building housing the number-one reactor at this stricken nuclear plant. You see the smoke obvious, obvious, an explosion.

So, today the roof blew off the number three reactor. Keep in mind we're talking specifically about number one, number two, number three here. But it was the number three explosion. So both of these reactors may have had partial meltdowns already, perhaps, so bad enough to begin with.

But now we have this. At the number two reactor, the water level dropped around the extremely hot fuel rods not just once, but twice this water level is down. So they fixed it once. Then it happened again. So what we're talking about here is three nuclear crises all at once.

Chad Myers, if you would, I know we have all been reading a lot about nuclear reactors, plants, these uranium rods. And so there are multiple issues. One of the issues is with the water, the cooling systems. And now they're having to pump seawater in there.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: On a normal operating day, there's a water loop that goes through there. It steams, it makes power, it condenses, it makes water, the water comes back, cools the rod, the rods steam, the water goes up and around and around and around and around. BALDWIN: That's broken.

MYERS: And that failed. So there is no cooling from its normal cycle. They don't know how to cool it any better than what they're doing now, which is to take raw seawater and just dump it on the rods. Eventually, those rods steam all that water away too.

BALDWIN: Sometimes too quickly.

MYERS: And steam is released out the top of the building. And part of that has -- it has some radiation in it. It just does, though that steam goes through many, many scrubbers; there's not a lot of radiation coming out, but it's happening.

Today, the rods were dry. For a time, the pump that was pumping water into the reactor ran out of fuel, ran out of gas. And so it couldn't pump any more water in.

BALDWIN: So it evaporated too quickly.

MYERS: And the rods were dry. It's like taking all the water out of your radiator in your car and driving down the highway. See how long your car will run without radiator fluid in the radiator. Your engine will melt down. And the rods, the engines, began to melt down.

They got water back in, started to work again. Everything was cooled down. The second time, different problem. The valve that was supposed to let the steam out wouldn't open. And so water was going in, steam was being made, but the valve wouldn't open. So the steam couldn't go out. They couldn't pump any more water in. Eventually, all the water that was in there was all steam and the rods were dry again. Bad.

BALDWIN: OK. So precarious situations in various ways with number one, number two and number three. What do you have to show me? And I understand you have an aerial picture as well.

MYERS: Yes. We have some pictures. We have some pictures of what the buildings should look like and also what the buildings do look like now.

BALDWIN: OK.

MYERS: The building and the top and the housing that's been blown off...

BALDWIN: Here it is.

MYERS: ... yes, is not that significant. To be honest, the explosions, although they look amazing and they look powerful, they are not nuclear explosions. They are explosions that are really not even -- not connected to the containment vessel at all.

The rod material, the radiation is still well inside this building. This was just a building on the outside of a building, and hydrogen got in the building because water is H2O, is hydrogen all in the process, electrolysis and all that. Eventually, this thing -- these two buildings became the Hindenburg. And the Hindenburg, like a hydrogen zeppelin, blew up.

But it didn't hurt the containment vessel.

BALDWIN: The containment dome.

(CROSSTALK)

MYERS: So far, we don't think so. If it would have been hurt, we would know by the radiation levels would be spiking. Radiation levels are not spiking.

BALDWIN: OK. I want to continue this a little bit later because I also want to talk about a lot of fears. People ask, well, what really is a meltdown? So hold that thought. I want to get into that a little later.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Deal?

MYERS: Yes. I'm here.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, my thanks to you.

So, if you followed us here, there have been two explosions. You have rods exposed, what are believed to be partial meltdowns. But what are the chances there might be this full meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant? Well, let's find out from a nuclear physicist next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to get you a little more now on that nuclear plant crisis in Japan that we were just talking about.

Let's go an expert. Joining me now from Albuquerque, New Mexico, we have nuclear physicist Kenneth Bergeron.

And, Kenneth, thank you for coming on as we're all sort of trying to wrap our heads around what's at stake here in Japan. We have had two explosions now at two separate reactors.

Is that as frightening as it sounds? Explain to me, when we talk explosion, what really happens?

KENNETH BERGERON, NUCLEAR PHYSICIST: Well, the explosions were a result of the accumulation of hydrogen gas in the floors of the reactor building above the containment area. The hydrogen is a product of a nuclear reactor that's in trouble.

When the fuel rods are not covered completely with water, they get very hot. There's steam in the environment. A combination of steam and the metal cladding of the fuel results in a chemical reaction that produces hydrogen. That hydrogen can't burn inside the containment, but they have had to vent the containments because they're getting so pressurized. That hydrogen is getting out into other parts of this building, and oxygen, plus hydrogen, makes for a very explosive mixture.

BALDWIN: That's what -- so it's oxygen and hydrogen. That's why we have seen some of the walls on one of these reactors -- two of the reactors and the roof gone.

But then you have the number-two reactor, and it wasn't just once, but twice now where you have had these exposed extremely hot fuel rods. What happens when there isn't water? And we know now they're dumping -- they're pumping some of the seawater into these fuel rods to keep them covered. But when they're not covered, what happens?

BERGERON: As soon as the reactors shut down, there's no more fission going on, so it is not going to produce any more neutrons and so forth. It still is hot. It still generates heat. That heat is called decay heat.

And it's necessary. Part of the whole safety approach to nuclear power is that, even after you have shut the core down, you have to keep it covered with water. Water is the way to keep these rods cool. In the absence of water, the decay heat will cause those rods to heat up. As that temperature goes higher and higher, a number of very bad things happens. One of the things that happens is the generation of hydrogen. That's really the first sign that things are going haywire.

BALDWIN: And then...

BERGERON: And then the second...

BALDWIN: No, go ahead.

BERGERON: And then the second thing that happens is you can have a breach of the cladding of this fuel. And that cladding is holding back some of the radioactive materials that have been building up in the fuel rods over the operation of the reactor.

And you get release of radioactive materials. That's what's been detected outside these plants.

BALDWIN: That is the -- I think one of the worst-case scenarios, therefore, the need to keep these hot rods cool.

But part of the issue -- this is what I really wanted to ask you about -- we have heard some of these cooling gauges where they gauge perhaps how high the water is, how much water is in there. That's been knocked out because of the tsunami here and the earthquake.

Then you have some of the control rooms, they may have flooded. So how do the people here who work at these nuclear plants, how can they even know how much water they have inside? Is it almost, I hate to say this, but it is almost a guessing game?

BERGERON: I think to some extent, it may be. We don't know what the status of the instrumentation of these plants are. I had heard indications that at least one of the plants has a faulty water level indicator, or it's possible that the water is actually very low and people don't want to believe it.

What is fairly clear, from the release of hydrogen and the fission products is that all of these reactors have probably had fuel rods exposed for significant periods of time over a portion of their length. And that's very bad news.

BALDWIN: And also, Kenneth, when we hear about the possibility of partial meltdown already occurring, is that an educated guess?

BERGERON: Yes, well, I'm not sure if I would use the word partial meltdown, because that confuses it with meltdown.

BALDWIN: What would you use?

(CROSSTALK)

BERGERON: Core damage is kind of the standard terminology for this stage of an accident, where the cladding is starting to fail, but the uranium is -- has a much higher melting temperature than the other materials, and it will have to get a lot hotter for the uranium to melt.

And that is what people kind of think of as the meltdown, is when the uranium fuel melts. But right now, we're in a core damage state.

BALDWIN: Which is obviously not, thank goodness, the worst-case scenario, but is the worst-case scenario possible? Is a meltdown, that core getting so hot that it begins to melt? And if that's possible, what does that mean? What are the ramifications?

BERGERON: Well, if the operators are not able to keep water over the core, or let's just take the extreme situation, no water at all, then the decay heat in that fuel is sufficient to cause that temperature in the fuel rods to increase and increase and increase.

Eventually, the fuel will separate from the cladding, fall down into a rubble pile, and continue to heat, and a pile of fuel and other portions of the reactor would collect at the bottom of the pressure vessel and melt, form a pool.

That's the worst-case situation for a nuclear reactor accident. And once you have that molten fuel mixture, fuel, steel, the zirconium from the cladding, it's -- it can get hotter than the melting point of the steel vessel. Steel vessel will melt through, and that material -- we use an expression corium for that mixture of core and other material.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Kenneth, let me just ask. We know that there's an evacuation in order for -- it's a 12-mile radius around this Fukushima plant. Given the potential worst-case scenario, and I don't know, in your best -- in your expertise here if you think that's even possible, given the sophistication of these plants -- but would you extend that radius to keep people safe?

BERGERON: I believe that if the worst-case happens, there's not only the failure of the pressure vessel, core on the floor, and then the failure of the containment, and that's another barrier that hopefully would prevent release, but if those two barriers are breached, then you have got a very, very radioactive material, lots of it.

It's going to be released into the atmosphere. Then the authorities there are going to have to be watching the weather. They're going to have to watch wind directions. They're going to have to watch precipitation issues, and they're going to have to think about much larger evacuations. They also have to -- one possibility is that they can ask people to shelter in place.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Is there any sign, Kenneth, really just -- would there -- any sign, any trigger for these experts to have any indication that the worst-case scenario is imminent? Or is it just, like, it just happens and there's no warning?

BERGERON: No, it would take time. I think that there would be good warning. If you had -- the core has slumped into the bottom of the vessel, I believe that they would be able to tell from various signals having to do with release of radioactivity and other things that things were a lost cause, you might say, and they might start initiating additional evacuations.

BALDWIN: Wow.

BERGERON: And then, you know, vessel failure would also be something that they would have very strong signals of. There would be warning, but we're talking massive, massive responses required.

BALDWIN: We're all hoping, of course, the worst-case scenario never happens.

BERGERON: Right.

BALDWIN: But Kenneth Bergeron...

(CROSSTALK)

BERGERON: And I'm just talking worst-case -- I'm just talking worst- case because you asked.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And that may not at all happen. And we're hoping it doesn't.

BERGERON: Right. Right.

BALDWIN: Kenneth Bergeron, I appreciate you helping us understand what's happening inside these nuclear power plants. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

And I want to remind you, stay with CNN for the latest, of course, on what's happening in Japan. Coming up tonight, 10:00 Eastern, Anderson Cooper back up live hosting a special edition from Japan on "A.C. 360." Don't miss that.

But coming up here, we have the real people behind the horrible images in Sendai. They have lost everything. Now many of them sleeping on the floor of an elementary school, still looking for their loved ones. We're going to tell you that story coming up next.

Also, we are monitoring some of the other big news items of the day, including the latest on that fatal bus crash outside New York City over the weekend. A 15th person has now died, and there is new information about the possible cause. CNN NEWSROOM will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let me tell you what's happening right now in Libya. Moammar Gadhafi's forces are taking control of some key oil towns.

You have Bin Jawad and Ras Lanuf back in government hands. Libyan state television reports rebels have lost control of yet another town, Al Brega. And that is crucial, because that town has so many gas and oil pipelines running through it.

Then, beyond the military offensive, the Gadhafi regime is continuing its diplomatic counteroffensive. The Foreign Ministry has denounced the Arab League's backing of a no-fly zone to protect Libyan civilians. Also, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting with her counterparts from other G8 nations in Paris today to talk specifically about that no-fly option.

And then take a look at this with me. This is what they're calling Operation Desert Shield. That is what the new mission in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is being called. Troops from various Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, arrived to help beef up security.

Protests in Bahrain have been going on for about a month now with hard-liners trying to get rid of the royal family.

Also, just yesterday, demonstrators say seven people were killed. Human rights activists say more than 1,000 people were hospitalized. But because this is YouTube video, CNN has no way of independently verifying it.

To Florida now, horrible story here, this news from NASA. A worker fell to his death this morning while getting the Space Shuttle Endeavour ready for its final flight. The man worked for the main contractor used by NASA. The incident is being investigated.

And to this -- 15 people dead after a bus crash in the Bronx. Police say it happened early Saturday after the tour bus driver lost control of the vehicle, hit two sign poles. The bus was operated by Worldwide Travel, and we are learning today from government records that the company has been involved in not just one, but two other crashes with injuries over the course of the past two years. In a statement, the company says it is -- quote -- "heartbroken" at the deaths and injuries there.

Also, have you heard about this? This from Washington. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has resigned. The abrupt move comes after controversial comments he made about WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning. Sources tell CNN the White House was furious over the suggestion that Manning was being mistreated in military custody.

Crowley made the comments last week during a speech at MIT. A senior White House official says Crowley's exit was in the works for months.

Take a look at this now. It is hard to imagine you can find anyone this way. Folks, it's a white erase board you're looking at. The people in Sendai are trying this way. They're leaving messages for loved ones here on this makeshift white erase board shelter. We're going to take you live. We're going to tell their story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here are the latest numbers we're getting from Japan. Nearly 2,000 people confirmed dead. Who knows how many more bodies rescue crews could find here in remote areas in the coming days, weeks. But enormous parts of the country have no power, no basic utilities, and 500,000 people are sleeping in shelters because their homes are simply gone. CNN's Kyung Lah is in Sendai.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In a tsunami disaster this massive, Mari Sato is learning the small gestures matter most. Food and water, she says, from someone she barely knows. Sato lost everything in a tsunami that hit Sendai. She learned from this before and after images that her home was destroyed.

"I never imagined a tsunami could do this," she says, saying she lives inland about two miles from the ocean. She is one of the hundreds of new residents of this elementary school. Rin Takahashi is the youngest, only three weeks old. His father says he's numb and can't seem to put her down ever since he and his wife fled from the water and debris that flattened their town.

"I have to protect my children," says this new dad. "The only thing I can think, I have to protect my children," children blissfully unable to understand. Others clearly do.

LAH (on camera): There are so many victims in this tsunami. This is just one converted classroom in this school. To the right, there are elderly people, to my left, a child, all of them awaiting word on the status of their homes, their families, all of them missing. They say it's impossible to think beyond this immediate emergency.

LAH (voice-over): The most pressing, locating the missing. A message board is filled with calls for help to find relatives. "I can't find them, says this man." The tsunami has hit all of Sendai in some way. Stores still damaged and without power are selling what they can. You can see the need for yourself as a line wraps around the building. Needed most is water, tea, and canned food. Today only ten items per family.

LAH (on camera): What happens tomorrow and the day after that?

LAH (voice-over): "What can we do?" says this mother much two young children. Her husband quickly adds, "at least we're all alive."

LAH (on camera): You feel lucky still?

LAH (voice-over): Back at the school, two friends reunite by chance. Rare tears of joy, out-shed, though, by those of grief, Japan's growing humanitarian crisis.

Kyung, Lah, CNN, Sendai, Japan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: So if it happened in Japan, one question a lot of people are asking is, could it also happen here in the U.S.? We have several nuclear plants built on or near fault lines. So are we vulnerable to the same kind of nuclear crisis? And where are scientists predicting the next big quake in the U.S. could happen? That answer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A lot of people are asking, what about us? United States has 10 nuclear reactors at 65 plants, including several that sit on fault lines. So the obvious question, are our reactor safe? The White House brought someone in today to try to reassure Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY JACZKO, CHAIRMAN, NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION: We are always focused on the safety and security of nuclear power plants in this country. That will always be something that we do. Whenever there's any new information, we always take that information into consideration and make changes, if necessary. But right now we continue to believe that nuclear power plants in this country operate safely and securely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So, Chad Myers is back. The obvious question, we have nuclear plants, we have fault lines, and then a huge ocean. Obviously, California comes to mind for me. Could this happen here?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It could. But the only real subduction zone, like the one in Japan, is well into northern California up in toward Oregon. But, yes, there will be shaking around power plants. There's no question that will happen at some point in time.

BALDWIN: They have to be built to withstand that. MYERS: They're made and there's backups and backups to the backups to make this type of thing not happen. But so did the Japanese. The Japanese had a 25-foot wall to stop a tsunami. But guess what? It was a 30-foot tsunami. They thought no way a tsunami would get over that wall, 25 to 30 feet, but it did.

So sure there are things that could happen. An asteroid could fall on one, too. That's highly unlikely. There are certain things -- the graphic that we showed on TV was amazing, that most of our power plants are more than 30 years old. Now, that doesn't mean that your power plant --

BALDWIN: Here it is.

MYERS: There.

BALDWIN: So all the different triangles are different plants.

MYERS: Look at the blue ones, 30 to 39 years old, 52 of them. Almost half, right at half the number are greater than 30 years old. That does not mean that it runs like a '72 Pontiac.

BALDWIN: I think the ones from Japan were from the '70s.

MYERS: They were. I had a Pontiac Lemans and I kept it up. And these power plants are 30 years old and so are many airplanes, but they all have new parts. They're retrofitted to be better. The newer ones, if you could build one, get a permit, get everyone in the neighborhood to say not in my backyard, they are much safer than the ones 39 years old because of the way they are built now.

You literally - and many cartoons come to mind but I won't go there because it's not in a funny connotation - but if you were asleep at the wheel inside a power plant and you walked away, that power plant could, a new one, it would shut down by itself with no one around.

BALDWIN: Like auto pilot.

MYERS: Yes. It would shut itself down automatically perfectly without anybody touching it. Obviously, clearly the one built in 1971 in Japan wasn't that way.

BALDWIN: Given the fact that Japan is very, very familiar with earthquakes and they had all of these different precautions, yet this still happened, you know, would you foresee perhaps the U.S. taking a page from Japan and saying, all right, we realize this could happen, maybe there's x, y and z we could do on top of all the precautions in place?

MYERS: Is there ever a day when we shouldn't check or recheck our checks? Is there ever a day we shouldn't be figuring out, are all of those leaves in New Orleans really ready for a cat five? We should always be checking. Every time something like this happens, we have to open our minds and say, wow, we didn't think of that one.

BALDWIN: A little reminder. MYERS: Let's think of what could happen. I'm sure all the engineers are going to get their heads together. There will be a big committee meeting.

BALDWIN: A meeting of the minds.

MYERS: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: Make sure we're as safe as possible.

MYERS: Every time this happens we're a little bit safer. Sure, people are injured and killed, but the rest of the world will be safer because of this disaster.

BALDWIN: Chad, thank you.

Take a look at this with me. This is what part of the coast of Japan looked like before Friday's earthquake and tsunami. So what does it look like now? We have some amazing images. I'll walk you through these pages on CNN.com, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: So CNN.com put together this astonishing way of looking at the damage the earthquake and tsunami did to Japan's coastline and the people who live there. These are amazing, the before and after images. First of all, this is the before images of Sendai. It's green, all the homes. Then I slide this along, and you start to see the after the tsunami.

Secondly, I want to show you, this is it the Sendai airport. You can see a couple of planes down here, the tarmac. Looks like a river and perhaps greenery there. That's the before image. This is the after -- just muck and mud, much destruction.

This is the Fukushima power plant. This is really stunning because keep your eyes in this area. This is the before. See all that smoke? One of the issues we've been talking about through the show here with the nuclear power plants, numbers one, two and three.

This was the most startling image for me. You see the cluster of homes, beautiful green countryside. This is the town of Natori. When I slide this -- total devastation here. And you can sit at your office computer and see it halfway, the before and after.

We have two pictures to pull up full here. One is obviously part of the coastline, and the next one is the after. So a couple of pictures there to see the before and the after from the damage caused, the havoc wreaked. Once the earthquake and tsunami has really taken over, it's tough to tell what's water, what's land. You can see the smoke there, possibly one of the power plants.

One more feature I want to show you. This is really cool. You can pull up this map, and there are -- this is the map of this particular island we're talking about in Japan. Here's the epicenter of Friday's quake. And if you click on one of these video icons, it will pull up and you can actually watch video, depending on the city it's in. so that's one piece of video where you can read from Stan Grant reporting on the nuclear crisis. One more up here is just a still picture from one of the factories. Look at the devastation.

So all of our folks, the smart folks at CNN.com, did this for all of us, so just go to CNN.com and you'll be directed to the interactive maps and before and after.

And with all of our coverage and emphasis here as we look at Japan, we have not at all forgotten about what's happening in Libya. The government there has now taken back control of several towns that rebels controlled just a matter of days ago. We will take you there live. We'll speak with senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to talk about Libya because Moammar Ggadhafi's forces are grabbing key oil towns. Opposition forces are on the defense and struggling to keep their movement together. I want to go to Ben Wedeman there in eastern Libya.

Ben, when you and I talked specifically about the town of El Brega, you were showing me video that you and your crew barely missed the bomb. And now today we talk about El Brega and the since that these rebels lost this time. And talking to them, do they say it is a tactical retreat or an out and out loss?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The leadership says it's a tactical retreat but on the ground they say it's just a retreat. We were in El Brega and got a bang on the poor in the middle of the night from someone on the streets saying the Libyan army is on the way, leave now, and what we saw is everybody in the neighborhood was packing up to go on the road. It was just a plain retreat. It didn't look tactical at all.

They were all headed into the town of Ajdabiya where the rebels seem to be building up small fortifications but trying to bring in an elevated organization to their rather haphazard military effort at the moment because if the town Ajdabiya falls, there's nothing to stop the Libyan forces from reaching this city, Benghazi. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Ben, I'm also wondering, can the opposition group there, do they feel the world attention shifting to Japan? How are they reacting to that, and might this almost be good for Gadhafi?

WEDEMAN: It clearly is good for Moammar Gadhafi. What we've seen is he's been for the last four days pushing the rebels further and further back, and there is a feeling that even before the catastrophe in Japan, that the world -- that the United States and European powers were simply dithering over the question of a no-fly zone.

Many people over here say it's simply too late, that Moammar Gadhafi's forces with artillery, with battleships, or rather warships, and their airplanes and what not are really pushing these people to the wall. And the feeling is that the world has really turned its back, partially because of all this attention on the situation in Japan, but also the world which initially applauded the revolt against the 42- year dictatorship is turning its back and these people are going to be paying the price. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Ben Wedeman live for us in eastern Libya. Ben, my thanks to you.

And in just about an hour here Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to meet with Libyan opposition leaders and our own Wolf Blitzer is traveling right along with the secretary joining me live from Paris. Wolf will be live in Paris coming up next.

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BALDWIN: I want to stay on the civil war in Libya. Moammar Gadhafi's forces are taking control of several key oil towns. The rebels are on defense, and this whole no-fly zone issue is on the agenda in Paris at the G8 meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. And our own Wolf Blitzer is in Paris traveling right along with her. Wolf, I want to ask you specifically about this no-fly zone and the discussion she's about to have in an hour. Quickly here, according to the CNN research opinion poll, 56 percent of American favor the no-fly zone in Libya, 76 percent oppose U.S. ground troops. Who will she be speaking with about this within the hour?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": She's speaking with all the G-8 foreign ministers. She's going to be having dinner with them tonight. She just wrapped up a meeting with the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates who is in charge of the Gulf Council right now.

And at the top of that meeting I asked the secretary of state are you going to go along? Is the United States going to go along with the Arab League which the other day authorized, approved the use of a no- fly zone over Libya? And she was wishy-washy in her response. She didn't say yes. She didn't say no. She just said she was going to consult with the leaders of the Arab world, including with the leader of the United Arab Emirates.

So she's clearly not ready to say yes or no on that matter. Significantly, though, in about an hour she's going to be meeting for the first time with the opposition Libyan leaders. They have got a meeting here in Paris. She's going to be meeting with them.

The United States has not done what the government of France, President Sarkozy has done, namely recognized the Libyan opposition as the legitimate government of Libya. The United States has not done that. France has done that. We'll see what emerges from this meeting.

But in about an hour or so she will be meeting with the opposition, the first time she will be meeting with them here in France. Clearly a lot of up in the air right now. As far as can I tell, the Obama administration has not made a final decision yea or nay, in favor or opposed, to the U.S. getting involved in a no-fly zone. There will be a lot more talk about it before a decision comes down either way. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Well, Wolf, we know we'll be watching "THE SITUATION ROOM." Hopefully you'll get the readout on that conversation with the top Libyan opposition leaders.

But also this is not the end of the travels for you or the secretary of state, is it not? It's my understanding you are accompanying her to Egypt next.

BLITZER: Right. We go to Egypt tomorrow. We'll be broadcasting tomorrow night from Cairo, then Tunisia on Wednesday, and then home back to the United States on Thursday. So it's a quick trip. This will be the first time she's meeting with the new leadership of Egypt, the first time she's meeting with the new leadership of Tunisia.

Remember, this entire revolution in the Middle East and North Africa started in Tunisia and Egypt only a couple months or so ago, so it's dramatic stuff going on. The region is changing. We'll see what happens in Libya. Obviously for the United States and indeed the whole world the stakes are enormous right now, so she's got important meetings.

And hovering over all of this, if you can believe it, Brooke, is what's happening in Japan right now. Tomorrow morning before she leaves France for Cairo, before she leaves Paris, she will be meeting with the foreign minister of Japan. He's here for all of the G-8 meetings. Japan a member of the G-8, the world's most industrialized economically, most powerful countries, and Japan is seeking international support, international help, and I think the world is getting ready to provide Japan with as much help as possible.

So this is an enormously difficult, complicated situation that's happening in the world right now, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is obviously right in the middle of it.

BALDWIN: We will be watching you taking the helm of the "THE SITUATION ROOM" live from Paris at 5:00 eastern time. Wolf Blitzer, safe travels on to Egypt. Thank you.