Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Radiation Dangers to Plant Workers; Race to Avert Nuclear Disaster; Safety of Nuclear Power in U.S.; Libyans Calling on United Nations for Assistance; Virginia Task Force 1 in Japan; Muhammad Ali Joins the Cause to Free American Hikers in Iran

Aired March 17, 2011 - 11:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Well, it is March 17th, and of course Japan has been bombarded -- or has bombarded, rather, a crippled nuclear plant with water today, a desperate attempt to cool nuclear fuel rods. Helicopters dumped 30 tons of seawater, but wind scattered much of it. Radiation levels actually rose.

A few hours later, fire trucks hosed down the plant with little success. Officials say they will keep trying.

And crews hope to restore electricity to the nuclear complex maybe within a matter of hours. That could power generators for the cooling system to keep nuclear fuel rods covered in water. But even if electricity is restored, the plant's water pumps may have been damaged by the seawater that was dumped.

And a new earthquake hit Japan just a few hours ago. Seismologists say it had a preliminary magnitude of 5.8. Dr. Sanjay Gupta was reporting live on CNN when the quake struck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're feeling an aftershock right now, Kiran. I'll just tell you the -- I don't know if you saw that at all, but things moving around a bit on us even as I'm talking to you. These aftershocks have come quite frequently.

It's still continuing here. OK. I think we're all good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Japan's mega disaster has forced hundreds of thousands of people to move into evacuation centers. The governor of Fukushima prefecture says that shelters are overcrowded and don't have hot meals or basic toiletries. He is furious there is no long-term plan to house evacuees.

And the United States will evacuate the families of American diplomatic personnel in Japan. That's about 600 people. The State Department says private American citizens who want to leave can hitch a ride on one of the charter flights.

And looking live right now at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, where Customs officials are checking passengers from Japan for radiation. Passengers passed radiation detectors on the way to Customs and probably did not realize that they were checked. Customs workers say they have found nothing.

And a British reporter is the first outsider to reach Kamaishi in Japan's far north. On the right of your screen you see the enormous seawall that protected the town from past tsunamis. Well, not this time. Most residents stayed in their homes thinking they were safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX THOMSON, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): An entire town stripped away to the elaborate foundations of houses designed to withstand earthquakes, yes, but a tsunami of this scale, certainly not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Japanese soldiers say they have pulled just 10 survivors from the wreckage in Miyako. One woman is trying to track down relatives to tell them that their loved ones are alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGUS WALKER, ITN REPORTER (voice-over): This woman is one of Japan's countless good Samaritans.

KIKUKU, SEARCHING FOR THE MISSING: I have to help the people because it is my hometown.

WALKER: Kikuku has collected the names of the missing posted on the Internet. She's come here hoping to find people she doesn't know on behalf of people she's never met.

KIKUKU: It is just horrible. I want to think it is a nightmare, what happened in my hometown, but I can't say anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And more now on Japan's nuclear crisis and concern about the risks from radiation.

The U.S. Embassy is urging people within 50 miles of the nuclear plant to evacuate. That's 1.9 million people. Japanese officials have told those living within 12 to 19 miles to stay indoors. Earlier, the government evacuated about 200,000 people living within a 12-mile radius.

And, of course, the biggest risk is to the workers inside the plant trying desperately to prevent a meltdown. Details now from Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Well, there's a lot of information about what these workers are going through that we still don't know. One of the most important piece of the puzzle, what exactly are the radiation levels inside the plant? We know what they've been outside the plant in terms of when they spiked, but obviously they're going to be higher inside the plant where these workers are trying to do their work.

Now, I'll tell you, I mean, they try and protect themselves with things like this. This is a hazmat suit. They may even use a mask that has a little respirator on it. These sort of things provide some help against some forms of radiation, but not against the most dangerous forms of radiation like gamma radiation.

There's also little sensors that they may use to try and figure out how much radiation they're being exposed to or what the contamination is. But again, these aren't really protecting people as much as giving them in the plant a little bit more information.

They know the deal here. They know the potential effects of this radiation. And in the short term, the radiation effects can be pretty significant if those levels are high. People can get very sick, they get nauseated, they can have bleeding, they can lose their hair, they can get skin rashes. In the longer term, the concern is about whether they might develop cancers.

Now, people living outside that evacuation area, the concern there is that if they're getting levels of radiation that are too high, they could develop some of these same symptoms over time. There's no evidence to suggest right now that radiation levels have become that high, according to some of the official numbers that we've received. There is some conflicting information about what is a safe evacuation area.

For some time now we've been hearing from the Japanese government a 20-kilometer sort of evacuation zone. And now we're hearing an 80- kilometer or 50-mile evacuation zone from the United States government. They're looking at the same data; they're coming up with different recommendations. The United States obviously being a bit more conservative.

There's also been a lot of discussion about potassium iodide as of recent, people buying them up in the United States. Really, the stuff is flying off the shelves. A couple of things to keep in mind.

First of all, people who take potassium iodide are going to get some protection in terms of developing thyroid cancer or thyroid problems, but this is a salt, and people may have allergies to this particular salt. People who have a pre-existing thyroid problem may have a problem taking this medication. And right now there's no suggestion, no recommendation, no reason really for people in the United States to be taking this.

The radiation levels, even if they cross over the ocean, by the time they get to the United States should be so low, that there really should be no discernible human threat. So, again, you know, people obviously anxious about what's happening here, but the panic button probably does not need to be hit, especially for those people living on the West Coast of the United States.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: At this hour, President Barack Obama is observing an annual White House tradition, celebrating St. Patrick's Day. The president is meeting with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny right now. It's one of several events at the White House marking the holiday.

But the president's observance of a different annual tradition is now drawing sharp criticism.

Carol Costello, here with your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a silly season in more ways than one, Fredricka.

President Obama sure has his hands full with Japan and Libya, the Middle East, and a threatened government shutdown. So what's wrong with taking a little break? A lot, apparently.

Mr. Obama appeared on ESPN to give his picks for the NCAA basketball championship.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, here's what happened. I picked North Carolina, they lost. The next year they won for me.

I think Kansas is going to do the same thing. They always feel bad about losing when the president picks them. They're going to go all the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Well, they may be cheering in Topeka, but in the conservative blogosphere, some are crying foul. Take this from HotAir.com: "Anxious world looks to the White House and wonders, who's Obama picking for the Final Four?"

On TV, Fox's Sean Hannity blasted Mr. Obama for the NCAA bracket, and also for playing golf, saying, "I find his lack of engagement now beyond troubling to me."

Democratic and Republican lawmakers are not exactly chained to their desks. They're raising money to get re-elected.

According to "The Washington Times," 150 fundraising parties just this week. And yes, some lawmakers have booked luxury boxes for fundraising at the NCAA tournament.

So, "Talk Back": Are critics fair about President Obama making NCAA picks during world crises?

Write to me at Facebook.com/CarolCNN, and I will gladly read your responses later on this hour.

WHITFIELD: Something tells me you'll get an earful, or an eyeful to the written responses.

COSTELLO: One or the other, yes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Carol. We'll look forward to that. Thank you.

All right. This story that's happening right now, some pretty incredible pictures taking place out of Minneapolis after a gas line rupture.

Take a look. Highway 62 is closed because of that, that massive fire. No reports of injuries thus far. That's the good news.

And here's a look at what's ahead "On the Rundown."

A live update from Japan on efforts to prevent a nuclear catastrophe.

And also, a breakdown of U.S. dependence on nuclear energy and the safety questions that raises.

Plus, a member of the U.S. search and rescue team on duty in Japan's earthquake zone.

And why experts say you should not be alarmed about radiation reaching the U.S.

And finally, rebels in Libya afraid international help will come too late.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This regime is as big a threat for all the world. We are defending the world peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Some of the images of the destruction.

Meanwhile, crews in Japan are furiously dumping water on a damaged nuclear reactor from the ground and from the air. It's a desperate race to prevent a nuclear crisis from turning into a catastrophe.

We get the latest now from CNN's Stan Grant in Tokyo, and some perspective from CNN contributor Jim Walsh, in Boston.

Let's begin with you, Stan, in Tokyo.

You're following the developments out of the Fukushima plant. So give us an update on the efforts to cool down those damaged reactors.

STAN GRANT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, I've been following this day in, day out, hour after hour. And if I can just put it this way -- running to stand still I think would be the best description.

They are throwing everything at it. They've tried seawater. They've now tried to bomb water from the sky.

They're using fire trucks, they're using trucks from the army, as well, to pour water in there. Seventy tons of water were poured into the reactors today, but they're going to have to be back again tomorrow. And they can't even be sure that it's making a difference.

You know, until they can actually call those reactors and get in and have a look at the damage, and actually stabilize them and then really shut them down properly, they can't bring an end to this crisis. And all the while, there are constant challenges.

We've seen the fires, we've seen the explosions. They've admitted that there have been at least partial meltdowns. And we've seen the radiation levels continue to spike and then drop. Even workers from the plant have been evicted at times. Today, some members from the police tried to pour water into the reactors, tried to get closer to the plant, and they had to abort that because the radiation levels rose once again.

The problem seems to be most around reactor number 4. And there, there is a pool of water containing spent fuel rods.

Now, a lot of debate coming from the United States and Japan. The U.S. is concerned that those fuel rods may be exposed and spewing more radiation into the atmosphere. Japan says no, they believe the radiation levels are much lower, and they are arguing that there is water in the pool, but they can't guarantee just how much. And that's a real area of concern right now -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, Stan, also on the issue of generators, if generators help restore power, what would that do? How would that help or hurt?

GRANT: Yes, that could be a game-changer. You know, the problem began here with a power failure, the fact that that shut down the cooling system. And they had auxiliary power, and then that didn't work either. So, it was a failure and then another failure, and then they've ended up with this problem that has been compounded by all those other issues that we just discussed a moment ago.

So, yes, being able to get power there, being able to get the coolant system working again and try to stabilize these reactors, would be a huge step forward. And, you know, they are throwing everything at it. But as I say, every time they think they may be get somewhere, they run into another problem.

The Nuclear Safety Agency did have this assessment this afternoon, though. They said that reactor number 1, they are calling reasonably stable right now, as well as reactors 5 and 6. But there's still problems with the others. And it's been a real battle to get them under control -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Stan Grant, in Tokyo. Thanks so much.

Let's bring in CNN contributor Jim Walsh now. He's an international securities analyst at MIT.

So you were listening to Stan's report. How alarming or encouraging is anything you heard, particularly as it pertains to this pool of water around these spent fuel rods?

JIM WALSH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, let's start with the good news first, because we haven't had a ton of good news this week.

It's good news if reactor 1 and reactor 5 and 6 are stabilized. You know, one of the challenges here is, with so many things in play over such a long period of time, I think it's tough for the workers on the ground to be able to manage multiple problems in multiple places. So I would say that's good news.

I would also say it's good news that they're getting some power generation there. But there are a lot of challenges that translate that into actually affecting having cooling that will reduce the problem. So there's some good news, but there are still big challenges, particularly at reactors 3e and 4.

WHITFIELD: OK. And at that 4, that's where that pool of water is around those spent fuel rods. What would that mean?

WALSH: Well, you know, we saw a little of it over the last 24 hours. If that radiation spikes, then they have to withdraw the workers, and they can't bring in the helicopters, which is, you know, not a good situation to begin with, using helicopters. But the helicopters can't get close enough to try to drop water.

And then you get in this cycle where there's higher radiation because the workers can't get close enough to be able to treat the problem. And, you know, that points things in the wrong direction. So, it's good news if the utility is saying that the radiation is dropping, but we've had so many inconsistent reports here, it's hard to know.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jim, thanks so much. We'll see you again later on this hour to talk about what happens next in Japan's nuclear crisis, as well as the long-term effects. That's coming up at 11:45 Eastern Time.

Thanks, Jim.

So, how safe is nuclear power? That's a serious question in light of what's happening in Japan. We'll check in live with Alison Kosik in New York for a closer look at nuclear power in the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. To get a close update on your money, you need to always check CNNMoney.com, where the lead story today, the U.S. stocks are rallying back after a two-day sell-off. And let's take a look at the numbers right now. The Dow is up actually 144 points. We'll keep watching it for you.

Meantime, time is running out for another temporary deal to keep the federal government from shutting down. The U.S. Senate must approve a plan by midnight.

Conservatives are pushing for big spending cuts. If a plan is not approved, nonessential services like national parks could close. The House gave its OK Tuesday to a three-week budget extension.

The United States is incredibly reliant on nuclear power. Twenty percent of U.S. electricity is nuclear-generated, but it's not the same in every state.

Alison Kosik joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange.

So, Alison, most of these nuclear plants are pretty old, and safety is still a concern. So where are we now?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, if you want to know where the nuclear plants are, they're in 31 state. And most of the reactors in the U.S. are at least 30 years old.

And you'll want to take a look at this map we're about to put up, and you can see if you live near a nuclear plant. The yellow states that you're about to see, those are the ones that generate nuclear power.

Vermont relies the heaviest on nuclear plant. Seventy percent of it comes from nuclear in Vermont.

Other East Coast states like Connecticut, those also top the list. Now, as you move West, though, reliance becomes a bit less, like in Iowa and Washington. Less than 10 percent of their power is nuclear. And in many western states, almost no nuclear power is used at all -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And, of course, most states do rely on nuclear energy. But now there are a whole lot of concerns about safety. What happens if we take nuclear energy out of the equation? Can we survive without it?

KOSIK: You know what? It would be really difficult.

You know, it takes a lot of money and a lot of time if you go and do that, because it's not just about taking nuclear energy out of the equation. It's also about replacing the infrastructure that supports it, and that changeover that you would make in the building process, it takes a lot of time and money.

There's also another issue. What do you replace it with?

Every energy source has its own drawbacks. You think about coal. Coal-based electricity is really tough on the environment. Natural gas is expensive to make. Solar and wind are volatile and are literally dependents on the weather.

So, you know, pick your poison with that.

One thing analysts agree on with this is that a mix of replacement sources would be best if you were looking to actually take nuclear energy out of the equation -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so what would it take to replace a nuclear power with some other source?

KOSIK: Well, nuclear power, of course, is a big energy source. And we're a big country. You know, one nuclear physicist says it would be -- it would take a really big, coordinated national effort if you were going to look to take nuclear energy out of the equation.

Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRBY KEMPER, NUCLEAR PHYSICIST, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY: How could we give up our plants unless there's some sort of a huge push both by private industry and government to think about really installing new electric grids, new renewable energy sources. But so far, we simply haven't moved even away from our current sources.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And, you know, most utility companies are private, so what would wind up happening is the burden would be placed on the private sector. But, you know, it would be more likely to happen if government was behind it and everyone kind of worked together, especially if government put financial incentives behind it, as well.

So, so far, though, Fredricka, there isn't any coordinated effort to get rid of nuclear energy. But if you're going do it, analysts say if you want to test it out and see what the effects would be without having nuclear power, they say to do it in the spring or the fall, because electricity demand is low. That's of course, if you just want to test it out -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK. Thanks so much, Alison Kosik. Appreciate that.

Seven days into the crisis, the grim task now of recovery, it's certainly not getting any easier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: You'd be forgiven for thinking this is a war zone. Instead, it's a place where soldiers are battling to finds victims of nature's forces.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Ahead "On the Rundown," the grim search for survivors in the rubble of a Japanese village.

What's next for Japan as it deals with its nuclear crisis? We'll look at the short-term and long-term possibilities.

And concerns in the U.S. after reports that radiation from Japan is heading this way.

And --

(GUNFIRE)

WHITFIELD: -- Moammar Gadhafi's forces fight to retake Libya's second biggest city. Rebels are desperate for international help.

Reporters are starting to reach some of the towns hit hardest by Japan's earthquake and tsunami. ITN's Angus Walker is in the devastated fishing port of Miyako.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER (voice-over): Miyako, a fishing port where the harbor offered no sanctuary. A ferry is now marooned in the middle of town.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this is a war zone. Instead, it's a place where soldiers are battling to find victims of nature's forces. More than 1,000 are missing.

(on camera): It took the Japanese army three days to get to Miyako. They're still here, still searching for bodies. And the weather conditions are getting worse. This town can only be reached by mountainous roads.

(voice-over): The sergeant tells me they've pulled 10 people out alive since Monday. And if they only find one more, it will all still be worth it.

This was the moment the tsunami smashed through Miyako's defenses. A boat is slammed into a bridge. The waters have receded, exposing the destruction in their wake.

(on camera): Now you get a real sense of the terrifying scale of this disaster. So much water poured over the seawall, that it hit the bottom of the bridge. It must be around 30 feet above me.

(voice-over): These are the lists of the living, more than 5,000 in emergency shelters. And this woman is one of Japan's countless good Samaritans.

KIKUKU, SEARCHING FOR THE MISSING: I have to help the people because it is my hometown.

WALKER: Kikuku has collected the names of the missing posted on the Internet. She's come here hoping to find people she doesn't know on behalf of people she's never met.

KIKUKU: It is just horrible. I want to think it is a nightmare, what happened in my hometown, but I can't say anything.

WALKER: And all along Japan's northeastern coast, the nightmare never seems to end.

Angus Walker, ITV News, Miyako.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And this information from the White House, that President Barack Obama will have a statement about Japan later on this afternoon. We'll try to bring that to you.

The U.S., meantime, has sent ships and helicopters to Japan to help distribute relief supplies. Search and rescue teams are also there. Among them is Virginia Task Force 1.

Joining me is battalion chief Chris Schaff from in Ofunato, Japan.

So, tell me, Chris, about the operation so far. Where have you been able to go?

CHRIS SCHAFF, BATTALION CHIEF, VIRGINIA TASK FORCE 1: We've operated since we arrived in Ofunato, Japan, which is down by the coast. We operated there for the first two days of our assignment, as well as the U.K. was with us and the Los Angeles County, as well.

We operated there, almost 24 hours straight through, working to look for any live victims but were not able to find any there. Then today, actually last night, redeployed to Kamishi, which is approximately an hour and about ten minute drive from where we were located. We operated there until dark and then had to return for safety reasons and returned again today and operate there until dark this evening.

WHITFIELD: And so you said safety reasons. What were those safety concerns?

SCHAFF: It's just dangerous in the town where we were. Up in Kamishi, there's no light, there's no power there so it's just hard to operate as far as being the amount of rubble and the devastation that's there, it's just not safe to be climbing over those piles into the void spaces without any light whatsoever. If somebody was to get hurt, it would be difficult to get our own people out and get them to safety. So, when it becomes dark we do come back to the camp and regroup for the next morning

WHITFIELD: And on the lines of safety, how concerned are you about the radiation, the potential contamination of your crew?

SCHAFF: Yes, we have hazardous materials specialists that are with us, that are part of Fairfax County Fire Rescue, and as well as the task force. They have brought all their monitors. They're constantly monitoring us while we're in the field, as well as back here at the base camp. And right now we're perfectly safe where we're at and were we've operated. While we keep it on the horizon, we feel pretty comfortable operating where we are with the people back home in the U.S. watching out for us, as well.

WHITFIELD: And what about K-9 units, do you have them?

SCHAFF: We do. We have six dogs with us. They've been busy. We've had a couple injuries to the dogs. But we do have a medical team and doctors taking caring for the dogs. They were able to continue working. They have been a great help to us being able to search huge amounts of debris piles. Put the dogs in there and they can comb the area quicker than we can by hand or by the search crews themselves.

WHITFIELD: And if you've been unable to find any survivors, how difficult is that for the team psychologically, and for the dogs, as well, to go on and to try to find anyone who may have survived after six days now?

SCHAFF: The dogs think of it as a game so they'll continue looking. They're excited to get out there and continue to search.

For the rescuers themselves, obviously that's what we're here for. We'd really would like to find a live victim, to be able to feel that success. But that the same time, when you do find somebody who has not made it and you're able to reunite that family with that person that passed away, that does bring some closure to it for that family and that's a good feeling that we're able to provide that closure to them.

WHITFIELD: So the snow and the cold clearly would make it very uncomfortable, but I wonder how that impacts any of the equipment that you're using in your search and rescue efforts.

SCHAFF: It just causes you to go a little slower just because of the footing and some of the areas that you have to get into. It makes it a little more difficult obviously. The cold -- we got four inches of snow yesterday. We operated through that. It snowed almost down to about 10-foot visibility while we were working yesterday afternoon. So definitely slowed down the search efforts which is why we returned again today to finish out the areas so that we can continue on tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Chris Schaff with the Virginia Task Force 1. Thanks so much for joining us from Ofunato, and all the best on your continued efforts.

SCHAFF: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, across the seas in a different direction, Libyans calling for U.N. military intervention as civil war rages.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): this is the U.N.'s responsibility. If the U.N. won't protect civilian populations, what's the point of its existence?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Desperate pleas from those in the path of Moammar Gadhafi's troops today.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: An ominous warning today in Libya. State TV reports an all-out assault on the rebel capital of Benghazi could happen very soon.

Moammar Gadhafi's forces have been fighting their way toward it. They claim to have taken the final city on the road to Benghazi. But CNN journalists there have seen no proof of that.

There's also growing concern about four "New York Times" journalists missing in Libya. The newspaper says it has received secondhand information that some of them were detained by government troops. But the military says it has no information on the journalists.

The U.N. Security Council could vote today a resolution authorizing military action in Libya. The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. says air strikes against government troops are among the options being considered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN RICE, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: We are discussing very seriously and leading efforts in the council around a range of actions that we believe could be effective in protecting civilians. Those include discussion of a no-fly zone. But the U.S. view is that we need to be prepared to contemplate steps that include, but perhaps go beyond a no-fly zone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: While the U.N. contemplates its next move, the people of Benghazi are living in fear that international action will come too late if at all.

CNN's Arwa Damon is there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON (on camera): To say that people are disappointed with the international community's inaction an understatement. They're angry, they're frustrated, and they feel completely betrayed and abandoned.

The failure of the United Nations to pass a resolution that would implement a no-fly zone, people are telling us, is nothing short, they say, of having global leaders sign their death warrants.

(voice-over): Carrying both the (INAUDIBLE) and French flags to show his gratitude to those two nation, Osama Muhammad says a no-fly zone must be implemented now simply to save the people.

Moammar is killing the Libyan people, he says. The world is taking so long, Muhammad is going to finish off all of Libya. And there will be no point to a no-fly zone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a big threat for all the world. We are defending the world peace, not for us but for our citizens.

DAMON: It's already been a month of bombardment and bloodshed, (INAUDIBLE) tells us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the U.N.'s responsibility. If the U.N. won't protect civilian populations, what's the point of its existence?

And yes, I am worried about my children, he continues. We've already seen children massacred.

DAMON (on camera): The French flag has been hanging from the courthouse here in Benghazi since Friday when France recognized the legitimacy of the national council.

People then happy, anticipating that the United States would shortly follow suit, talking about how they would hang an even bigger flag to thank America for its support.

Since then they have, of course, been bitterly disappointed. Many people telling us if it's an issue of money, they'll pay for it. If it's an issue of America fearing involvement in an Arab nation, well, they would be welcomed here. They say that if America and the global community continues to choose inaction, this would be a dark stain, a very dark stain in history.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Benghazi, Libya.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Other top stories -- graphic video of the increasingly violent security crackdown in Bahrain. An unarmed man walks up to security forces and is shot at pointblank range. The "Huffington Post" reports police fired rubber bullets at him. Amnesty International accuses Bahrain shotgun of using shotguns, teargas, and rubber bullets to subdue protesters.

Muhammad Ali is joining the fight to get two American hikers home from Iran. The boxing champ wrote a letter to Iran's supreme leader appealing as a brother of Islam for the release of hikers. And they've been held for alleged espionage since July of 2009, as a reminder.

So we'll return to the nuclear crisis in Japan in a moment. Amid the desperate effort to cool nuclear fuel rods, we'll focus on what happens next, as well as the long-term effects. Our expert, Jim Walsh, joins me again.

But first, we want you to listen to the earthquake as it hit. (VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Ominous, isn't it? That is how last Friday's powerful 9.0 quake sounded. We now know it was a prelude to a ferocious killer tsunami.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Crews in Japan are using helicopters and water cannons to try to cool down a damaged nuclear reactor. It's a desperate attempt to prevent a meltdown. Helicopters are trying to drop sea water on the overheated fuel pool at the reactor.

Choppers dumped seven and a half tons of seawater with each of the four passes. Radiation levels remain high after the initial attempts, but the plant owner says the effort will continue.

We want to bring back CNN contributor Jim Walsh, he's an international security analyst at MIT.

All right, so a lot of things have been attempted now. You've got the water, then the attempt to get the generators going. What next?

WALSH: Well, I think the main thing is to focus on keeping water in the reactor and water at the spent-fuel ponds, where the nuclear waste is stored.

You know, the hopeful thing here is -- the best outcome is if they can just stabilize the situation. Over the next several days, those -- the active reactors, units one, two and three, will begin to cool down; one hopes.

And then maybe you can entomb them in concrete like but at Three Mile Island or otherwise sort of just set them aside and then focus on the nuclear-waste pools which I think are probably the biggest hazard right now.

But in order to do that, they're going to have to fix the electrical problem. It's not just getting electricity, it's getting the pumps and everything in between. So I'm sure that's a major challenge for them now.

But if we can just buy some time and stabilize the situation, I think that's what probably people are shooting for in the near term.

WHITFIELD: And then looking forward, these reactors cannot be used again. They've had this seawater dumped on them. So what will happen to them?

WALSH: They're going to be retired. They're toast. It's over. That's six, you know, anywhere from between three, four, six -- six reactors, each a billion dollars each that are now dead. They're not going to be used again.

But I think the main focus here -- there's a big economic write- off. There's the health risk to the workers who have bravely fought this situation. And then there's going to be a lot of psychological injuries. We never talk about the psychological cost. A lot of folks who have preexisting mental health issues, they have suffered through this because they're worried about the radiation.

But that would be the limit there. Those three things would be the limit, if we can stabilize things, and that would be the best possible outcome.

The worst possible outcome is if things continue, you continue to have radiation spikes. The workers have limited access to all the reactors, so problems at the reactors worsen because the workers are unable to get to them. That's the -- that's the unpleasant scenario that I hope we can avoid.

WHITFIELD: And so you do wonder, can anything really be done to make sure that the ground, the air, the people, animals all in that general vicinity are not further contaminated?

WALSH: Yes. That's the whole gang right now. You hope that in reactors one, two, and three, the containment vessels hold, so even if there are problems inside the reactor that radioactivity is contained, just as it was during Three Mile Island for the most part. You hope that you can get water into the waste ponds --

WHITFIELD: But for how long?

WALSH: Well, you know, for reactors one, two and three, if the containment vessels hold, that's going to be forever. So that would be fine.

The problem with those nuclear-waste pools is that stuff is hot. Those rods have recently been taken out of the reactors, so they're super hot. That management issue is going to have to be ongoing, and that's why they have to fix electricity. They can't rely on dropping water from helicopters. That helps, but fundamentally, if they're going to address that, they have to get the cooling system going again.

WHITFIELD: And then I wonder, you know, months from now, years from now, can these plants, they won't be used, they're a futile operation, but can they be dismantled? Can anything be repurposed or recycled as it pertains to these plants without endangering other lives?

WALSH: Well I don't think they're going to have any other purpose ever again. They may go in at some point as they -- I think they did with Chernobyl and, you know, cut up the plant and cart it away and bury it, or try to get in there to sort of analyze what exactly happened, to retrace the steps and figure out what happened when and what -- what could have been different had they acted differently or, you know, to try to come one lessons learned that could be applied for the future.

As you rightly point out, Fredricka, I think if we can stabilize things, and I hope we can, the next big job when this is all is over is going to be decontamination. Measurements, trying to take of the top several inches of soil, checking the ground water, taking radiation readings in outlying areas and in the air.

And then hoping to treat that by removal so that it can be reclaimed. So that the land around the plants, you know, in the greater community area, can be used again and families can move back into their homes. But, you know, that's going to be a tough road. People are going to continue to have fears about the area and fears about the people who live there.

WHITFIELD: Sure. Fascinating stuff. Always learn so much from you. Jim Walsh, thanks so much appreciate it.

WALSH: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Meantime, critics are coming down hard on President Obama for publicly announcing his college basketball tournament picks in the middle of the crisis in Japan. Is that fair? Your responses to our "Talk Back" on that just moments away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Conservative critics are jumping on President Barack Obama's interest in college basketball during a time of crisis. They apparently do not think that this is a good idea for him to be going on ESPN with his basketball bracket choices.

Carol Costello back now with some of your responses.

Were they fired up?

COSTELLO: They were fired up. It's like the silly season.

The "Talk Back" question today: Are critics fair about President Obama making NCAA picks during a world crisis?

This from Robert, "I think it's good that the president takes time out to relax. Remember, all you conservatives, that Bush took time out to relax and watch sports."

This from Darius, "Our president should not have to apologize for having the ability to do more than one thing at a time."

This from David, "They have every right to be. A nuclear crisis in Japan, Middle East turmoil and economic problems here at home, and if we were filling out brackets on our job we would be fired."

This from Tammy, "Come on, Carol. You disappoint me with this question. Can't we have something more important to discuss here like, hey, what do you think about the U.S. people running to get iodine pills and contamination kits? Is this putting the cart before the horse?"

I have one thing to say, Tammy -- Where were you at 6:00 this morning?

Keep the conversation going. Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN.

WHITFIELD: You know Tammy is going to write you back.

COSTELLO: I hope she does. That's what the Facebook page is for.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Tammy, write it on the Facebook page if you want that question asked.

WHITFIELD: All right, Carol, appreciate that. Thanks so much.

Of course, we are still talking about Japan and the radiation from that country blowing across the Pacific. So Tammy, are you listening? Some Americans are worried about that. We'll fill you in on why there is no need to start panic and go out and buy those potassium-iodides.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Lots of concern and, of course, panic that those radiation plumes from Japan will make its way to the West Coast sometime by tomorrow.

Rob Marciano is here to sort it all out.

People are a little nervous about the notion.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we're still kind of sticking with what we said yesterday.

WHITFIELD: More than nervous.

MARCIANO: Basically, something came out this morning about a U.N. computer model that took a plume and moved it, you know, via atmosphere over to the West Coast. Well, this model was set up several days ago, run several days ago, forecasting for it to arrive tomorrow. And it doesn't really say, you know, about the concentration of the plume.

WHITFIELD: Right, the dispassion of any of those particles that may well dissipate well before getting to the West Coast.

MARCIANO: And it's more of a theoretical thing. I mean, you may remember last year we talked about the oil spill we talked about, well, the oil might get caught up in the Gulf Stream and end up in Ireland. Well, you know, in theory, that may have been so, but it didn't happen in reality.

You look at a satellite picture like this, I mean, we're not seeing any sort of plume or cloud or nuclear winter ash cloud that is being traversed across. These are weather clouds.

And this is a computer model, not the one that they used to track the theoretical plume of radiation, but one that we use every day in the Weather Center. And these brighter colors are the surface winds. And everything from Japan in some way shape or form kind of makes it way to the West Coast. You know 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 miles away, depending on where you are.

By the time any sort of radiation plume gets to that point, it would be well disbursed, even across parts of the Aleutian Islands. And I think that if there was anything of major consequence that would be released, it would be arriving in the Aleutians today or tomorrow.

But you have to remember also, there's a difference between radiation and radioactive materials. Radioactive material that releases that radiation. So you have to be close to that material. And that radiation hits things floating in the atmosphere, and those things that are now radioactive have to be transported via the atmosphere thousands of miles away. That's a lot to ask. And even if they were to make it that far, it starts to disburse, just like dropping some ink or something in a river. It gets disbursed as it goes downstream.

So the long and short of it, we're not terribly concerned about this barring some huge catastrophic event that will be much, much larger than what we've already endured. As far as this particular case, we shouldn't be concerned on the West Coast at all.

WHITFIELD: That is comforting news for, I know, a lot of folks who really are at a stage of panic right now and it's going to take a lot for them to come down. So Rob Marciano helping them calm down.

MARCIANO: Yes, the embrace that West Coast take-it-easy lifestyle. No need to worry.

WHITFIELD: That's right. OK, thanks so much, Rob, appreciate that.

MARCIANO: OK, you got it.