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Dump Water, Restore Power; White House Briefing on Japanese Disaster; America's Worst Nuclear Accident; Dow Versus Nikkei; U.N. Security Council to Vote About No-Fly Zone; Brutal Government Crackdown in Bahrain; Geothermal Power Production; Let the Madness Begin
Aired March 17, 2011 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: OK, have a great afternoon. I'll pick up exactly where you left off.
Talking about the tragedy in Japan, bring on the water and hook up the power. Those are the two main strategies for bringing down the heat and, therefore, the danger at the nuclear plant that incredibly has overshadowed the natural disasters in Japan, the earthquake and the tsunami.
Witness an act, you're looking at it right here, of sheer desperation. Japanese helicopters trying to douse a super-hot reactor building, reactor number three, at Fukushima Daiichi. They dropped 7.5 tons of sea water in each of four runs over 40 minutes and appeared to have accomplished little other than to expose the crews to radiation.
Later, fire trucks tried to hose the building down and that's supposed to continue through the night. At the same time, the work is under way to restore electricity that was knocked out by the tsunami, electricity that runs the pumps that keeps the reactor water circulating and the fuel rods at stable temperatures. That's the whole goal of this mission.
I want you to see what those sprayers and air drops are aiming at. Not at the reactor core itself, which is in the middle of this graphic, but at the pool that houses the rods that no longer can generate power, but are still radioactive. When the pool runs dry or low, the rods overheat, and we've seen what can happen after that, fires and explosions.
The worst case scenario is a meltdown which has not happened. Let me emphasize, a meltdown has not happened. People are using that word all over the place, or at least it hasn't happened on a major scale as far as we know.
What we do know, from the international atomic agency -- energy agency, at least 20 people are believed to be suffering from radiation sickness. And the Japanese network NHK is reporting elevated radiation levels 20 miles from the plant. That's higher than we've seen at times in tap water, but not nearly as high as the air around the plant itself. Twenty miles, by the way, is beyond the Japanese evacuation zone, on the edge of the stay indoors area, you can see that on the graphic. There's the 10 kilometer zone, which is the initial evacuation zone, and then there's the 20 kilometer zone where people were ordered out, and then there's a 30 kilometer zone which is where you're supposed to stay indoors, and a 50 kilometer zone which is what the U.S. is telling people to do. The U.S. and several other countries are telling people to stay 50 miles away. The U.S. is also arranging or authorizing flights home for the families of diplomats and troops.
And this news is just in, the pentagon is sending over a nine- member team of experts on nuclear and biological hazards.
CNN's Stan Grant, following the nuclear crisis moment by moment. Stan, let's just distinguish between the radiation dangers at the plant, the people who are exposed to that because they're working at the plant, the utility workers, and the radiation dangers to the outside world, first the Japanese, and then everywhere else. Is it still the case that readings far from the plant are low or at least not alarmingly high?
STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali, it's a really good question. A lot of this gets overlooked amidst the fear. You hear radiation and it just fires the imagination. All radiation is going to kill you. Well, it's like hearing the word cancer and you imagine you're going to die. Doesn't always happen, it's not -- it doesn't have to be that way. There are different types of radiation, there are different types of radioactive materials.
For instance, you know when you've heard about this venting process, steam being released into the atmosphere, that contains what are known as noble gases (ph), I maybe won't go into the details because it's very scientific, but essentially this type of radiation, the secondary reform, breaks down very, very quickly, according to the analysts and specialists and scientist that I've been speaking to. It dissipates in the air and by the time it's moved out, maybe ten miles or so, it's affectively negligible.
Then you have the really nasty stuff which sits within the core of the reactor. And now that we've talked about the containment vessel, that's what's important about that. In the event of a meltdown, you need those containment vessels, that whole process, the building itself, to track any of that radioactive -- all of those radioactive elements in the building and not allowed into the atmosphere because that can cause problems, that's where the real danger lies.
Now, you talk about the radiation levels, you know they do peak and they drop dramatically. We've season that over the past few days. At times, yes, dangerously high, a threat to people's health and they've even evacuated the workers. But by the time you get from the reactors to the front gate, a matter of a couple of hours after the -- after those higher readings, they drop to a letter sometimes less than some x-rays. So, as you can see, it's very difficult to pinpoint exactly what is in this radiation and exactly how dangerous it is and it doesn't stay high all the time. It does drop very quickly -- Ali. VELSHI: All right. Stan, very much -- thanks very much for that. I want to go right to the White House where the chair of the national regulatory commission, Gregory Jaczko is speaking.
Let's listen into reporters' questions of him.
(BEGIN COVERAGE)
QUESTION: Is the administration satisfied with, or not, with how Japan is handling it, and how would you categorize the (inaudible) levels of information being provided by Japanese authorities?
GREGORY JACZKO, CHAIRMAN, NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMITTEE (live): Well, I'm the head of an independent regulatory agency, so I would defer the questions about the administration's position to the others. But I would just say, again, our efforts are really working to help the Japanese people deal with what is a very difficult and really tragic situation. So, that's where we're going to continue to focus and see what we can do to provide them with any assistance we can.
DAN PONEMAN, ENERGY DEPARTMENT: I want to comment on that. You know Americans, we always want more information, and we are constantly trying to find out whatever we can, and as the chairman said, the facts on the ground are genuinely complex, they are genuinely confusing. We have had a dialogue, we've had our two experts that are already out in Japan, they've been engaging directly with the Japanese. We've had, as recently as yesterday, senior level officials from Menti (ph) and from the nuclear industrial security agency in Japan in direct consultation with us. We're going to maintain that dialogue and do whatever we can in support of their efforts to get this situation under control.
DAN LOTHIAN, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Chairman, you said that there's no concern, I guess here, domestically that radiation will be harmful. In addition to the ongoing measurement, I guess, that are taken on a regular basis apart -- aside from this disaster, what else is being done to get an accurate measurement that none of this will impact the United States?
JACZKO: Well, again, I would probably turn to Dan to answer that question. We're really focused, again, first and foremost on making sure the plants in this country are safe and then continue to provide assistance to the -- to the Japanese with their efforts and dealing with the crisis there.
LOTHIAN: In addition just to the regular measurements that are taken, have you beefed up that effort to check the quality of the air in the United States?
PONEMAN: Well, there's a continuous effort, as you well know, that the EPA runs to make sure we have detectors all over the country.
LOTHIAN: In addition to that, is there anything that's been added?
PONEMAN: I will defer you to the EPA for more specifics on anything they're doing, but what we have been doing to support them in that effort is to make sure that we have the people at Lawrence Livermore who are working on the modeling aspect of this so that as and when data comes in, we have the capability, and a robust one, to analyze that information. That's, of course, something that we do in conjunction with NOAA and Jamie Chunko (ph). So, everything that could be done to be prepared, for such time as that mechanism needs to be used, has been done, but I would go back to what the chairman has said, there's nothing that indicates at this stage that that's going to be required under the circumstances as we now understand them.
LOTHIAN: So, there's no need to be concerned at this point?
PONEMAN: That's right (ph).
JACZKO: I just want to stress, I mean I don't think there's any real disagreement here. They're -- the basic physics and basic science tells us that there can't be any risk or harm to anyone here in the United States or Hawaii or any of the other territories. So, that's something that we feel very comfortable with, it's really just based on the basic facts and sciences involved here.
QUESTION: Mr. Chairman, (INAUDIBLE) it's been three days since you stood there before. Why did the situation deteriorate the way it did with the four reactors? Can you explain to us what happened? We've seen the pictures of the reactors, what's happened since you were here on Monday?
JACZKO: Well, the situation continues to be very dynamic in Japan. And as we looked at a lot of the available information, we saw greater challenges, I think, with providing cooling to some of the spent-fuel (ph) pools that had initially not been as much of an issue. So, that was really one of the major changes that led us to re- evaluate some of our information and come up with the recommendation we did.
QUESTION: In the situation as it stems right now, the attempts today to put water in there, don't you think we would've done that?
JACZKO: Well, I would say right now there's continued efforts to do that. They are continuing to provide water into the spent-fuel pools as well as continue to provide cooling to the reactor core. And that's really what their focus is going to have to be for some time. It's just to continue that activity of cooling and getting water or other means to cool the reactors in the pools.
QUESTION: Days or weeks?
JACZKO: This is something that will likely take some time to work through, possibly weeks, as eventually you remove the majority of the heat from the reactors and then the spent-fuel pool. So, it's something that will be ongoing for some time, and that's why, as I said, we're continuing to do everything we can to provide assistance to the Japanese as they deal with the situation.
QUESTION: Chairman, you said that the 11 experts -- the 11 American experts are in Tokyo. Does that mean that they are completely reliant on Japanese officials and utility officials closer to the site to give them the information that they then analyze or is there an independent way for them to get information about what's actually happening?
JACZKO: Well, they're -- they're working with counterparts from the utility and other officials there to gather information, and then, Of course, they're using their judgment, they're communicating back here with our staff at headquarters. We're reaching out to experts in this country to provide additional ideas if necessary.
QUESTION: Is there independent information on their own or is it all coming to them from somebody in Japan?
JACZKO: Well, the information is coming to them from sources ultimately in Japan. And again, you know, this is a very dynamic and a very, I think, complicated situation in Japan. So, you know, they'll continue to work with their counterparts there and continue to provide recommendations to us about what we think we can do to help the Japanese.
QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) but even the prime minister of Japan and certainly the Japanese public have expressed great frustration with the secrecy and lack of transparency coming, in particular, from the utility. Are you experiencing that same frustration? Are your people - that same frustration in getting information?
JACZKO: Well, they are -- I think the people we have in Tokyo, they are talking with experts there, they're talking with individuals from the utility, and I think they're getting information that is useful to us in making the kinds of recommendations that we need to make. And our focus is really on looking at how would this situation be similar to a situation in the United States? And then providing suggestions for actions we may need to take relative to American citizens.
The Japanese are -- as I said, they're dealing with a very significant crisis and they have a lot of efforts focused on trying to deal with the reactors, trying to deal with the situation on the ground. So, we have a small team there that's getting good information and we'll continue to do what we can to help.
QUESTION: On the 50 miles, are you -- I'm sorry. Go ahead.
PONEMAN: If I might just add there, that's why it's so important that we get the information that we have now sent the equipment over to collect and we've had two flights come back with mission data pull (ph) there. We sent other detectors over there, other sampling equipment, and so, it's not just people talking to people. We're beginning to collect the information that would give us the measurements to help inform policy.
QUESTION: Is that because you're frustrated and --
(END COVERAGE)
VELSHI: I will continue to listen in to that nuclear officials talking to reporters and answering questions. We're also awaiting some more updates on the condition of the nuclear plant in question in Japan.
Remember three-mile island? Well, as Japan scrambles to avoid its own nuclear meltdown, we want to look back at America's worst nuclear accident and how much things have changed or stayed the same over the last next three decades -- stay with us.
Now, here's our "Social Media Question" of the day. Should nuclear power be used as a source of energy? Why or why not? Join the discussion on my blog, CNN.com/ali. If you want to talk about it on Facebook, there are existing discussions there, join in, post comments there, or go to Twitter @alivelshi and give me your thoughts on that. I'll read some of them on the air.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Japan's desperate struggle to cool off its overheating nuclear reactors and keep more radiation from escaping is a stark reminder to the world about the dangers of nuclear power. Many Americans are now wondering about the safety at U.S. power plants and thinking back to the worst nuclear disaster in U.S. history. My colleague, CNN's Mary Snow, takes us back to Three Mile Island, where some people are still nervous 32 years later.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These stats at Three Mile Island rarely phase many of the residents here in central Pennsylvania, but they evoke memories of a national nightmare. The site of the worst nuclear accident in America's history back in March of 1979. Americans tuned into the nightly news to hear this.
WALTER CRONKITE, CBS "EVENING NEWS": Good evening. The world has never known a day quite like today.
SNOW: It turns out, there were no deaths from the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island. Studies done since the accident report no long lasting injuries. Life has carried on.
SNOW (on camera): There are two units here at Three Mile Island. Unit two, you can see behind me, is where the accident happened. More than three decades later, unit one is still open and the company operating it says it provides electricity to 800,000 homes.
SNOW (voice-over): Deb Fulmer, a professional nurse, tells us she was comfortable raising her children in the shadows of Three Mile Island's nuclear reactor.
DEB FULMER, NURSE: I look out my window and see the reactors every morning. It's just -- it's just something we live with. It's just a way of life. I still hear the jokes from people, but this is where we live.
SNOW: Fulmer was among tens of thousands of people in the immediate area who evacuated after then Pennsylvania Governor Richard Thornburgh ordered an evacuation of pregnant women and preschool children. Thornburg says at the time he was getting faulty information that added to the panic.
RICHARD THORNBURGH, FORMER PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: That becomes very frustrating because you have to rely on the experts to tell you precisely what's going on. And oftentimes those experts don't know themselves.
SNOW: Five days after the nuclear accident, Thornburgh toured the power plant with then President Jimmy Carter to try and instill confidence. But 32 years later, long-time resident Eric Epstein is still a skeptic and now serves as an independent nuclear energy watchdog.
ERIC EPSTEIN, TMI ALERTS: There's a form of psychological terrorism that occurs during a nuclear accident because you don't know how it's going to turn out and you really don't know how it's going to be affected. And to be frank, neither do the experts.
SNOW: Much has changed inside the plants of Three Mile Island in terms of safety procedures. And while many here are not afraid to live near the plants, some fear still exists.
SNOW (on camera): Do you still get nervous?
FULMER: Sometimes when we hear the sirens go off. I mean they test the sirens sometimes. But after 30 years of having listened to sirens being tested, when one goes off, I stop in my tracks for a few seconds.
SNOW (voice-over): Mary Snow, CNN, Middletown, Pennsylvania.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Now, investors talk with their money and they say they are very concerned about the situation in Japan. Should they be and should you be? I'll talk about it right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: If you want a measure of how much concern there is for Japan around the world, just take a look at the stock market. The Nikkei, Japan's main stock market, was -- it's main index, was down more than 16 percent in the first two trading days after the earthquake and the tsunami, only to recover 6 percent on Wednesday. Today, another 5 percent at one point before recovering most of that. So the bottom line is, it's still down.
Over here in the U.S., stocks seeing a bit of relief today. Take a look at that. The Dow's up 150 points after two days of heavy selling. So, could Japan spark a market sell-off around the world or is just -- is all of this just investors doing what they do anyway? They sell on some news and they buy on others.
My good friend Paul La Monica is editor at large at cnnmoney.com. You can track him on Twitter at LaMonicaBuzz.
Paul, tell me, there are -- are we just oversold -- overbought on this market? Are we just selling off because we've had a run and it really has very little to do with Japan?
PAUL LA MONICA, CNNMONEY.COM: I think that's probably what happened to a certain extent. I mean don't get me wrong, you don't want to diminish some of the concerns about Japan, particularly the fact that there are obviously people worried about radiation and the trouble at -- troubles at the nuclear plants. And that's something that's very worse, that's different than other types of natural disasters.
However, as you just pointed out, the Dow, S&P 500, broad market indexes in the U.S. have surged in the past two years from the lows during the worst of the recessions. So it's only healthy to get a bit of a pullback anytime there's a good excuse to sell and something like the Japan tragedy, I think, is one of those excuses.
VELSHI: All right. So what -- if you are an investor, the way our viewers are probably investors, Paul, meaning we've got 401(k)s, we've got IRAs. We're not big money investors. Is there anything you can or should do about the fact that we've had two terrible days? So your stock portfolio has probably taken a hit, your retirement is taking a hit, now we're starting to see a recovery. Is there anything for the average person to be doing other than watching this?
LA MONICA: I think the biggest thing is just not to panic. As you look, we've got a one-year chart here that shows that the Dow is still actually up slightly, coming back into positive territory because of today's rally for the year versus the Nikkei. And then we have another chart showing the past five years. And if you look at this big dip, this is the financial meltdown, Lehman Brothers, AIG, the great recession. And then this big surge afterwards.
VELSHI: Right.
LA MONICA: The Nikkei, however, is down significantly over the past five years. And I think that just goes to show that Japan's economy, even before this disaster, was not in the best of shape compared to the U.S. economy which had an admittedly big stumble in 2008 and 2009. But over time, economies generally tend to keep growing. And I think that's what we have here.
VELSHI: Yes. That chart really show it --
LA MONICA: Longer term, you shouldn't panic.
VELSHI: The Dow on that chart really shows that as big as we think this is, it's a little blip. And even given the history over the last three years, it's not a very big move.
Paul, great to see you, as always. Thanks very much.
Remember to follow Paul on Twitter at LaMonicaBuzz. Also follow at CNN Money, where they've got lots of good stuff. And for lots more to do with "Your Money," because I know people are concerned, we've got two great shows for you every weekend. Be sure to tune in to "Your Bottom Line" each Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. "Your Money" airs Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sunday at 3:00.
Well, one of the most beautiful drives anywhere marred by a pretty big detour. A highway slides into the sea, and some other stories that you might have missed right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is nearly 2:30 a.m. Friday morning in Japan. One week out from the 9.0 earthquake that shook the country and spawned that terrible devastating tsunami. Danger still looms in the air, though, as authorities try to get a handle on this spiraling nuclear crisis. Today, military choppers, you can see them here, scooped up loads of sea water to dump on failing reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Fire trucks and police water cannons also brought in. The goal here, keep the reactors and the spent nuclear fuel ponds from overheating and releasing vast amounts of radiation. Levels outside the plant were high much of the day, complicating an already daunting task. Meantime, the Pentagon has just announced it is sending a nuclear response team to help advise the Japanese government.
Now to some other stories that you might have missed.
A giant chunk of road has slipped into the Pacific Ocean in Big Sur, California. This is amazing. Our affiliate KION reports at least 120 feet of Highway 1 is gone. People driving nearby had to abandon their cars and walk to more stable ground. No confirmed cause yet for the slide, but the highway patrol suspects erosion is to blame rather than seismic activity. They say the road could be closed for months.
Britain's Prince William has arrived in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he'll meet with survivors of last month's earthquake. One hundred and fifty-four people were killed in the country's deadliest natural disaster in nearly a century. The prince will attend a national memorial service tomorrow. Then he heads to Australia to see the destruction caused by last month's cyclone.
And after a 10 month investigation requested by the New Orleans mayor, a Department of Justice report blasts the general conduct of that city's police department. Investigators found routine constitutional violations, little internal oversight and frequent excessive force among other things. The new police superintendents says he's already started making reforms and is optimistic the report will help turn the department around.
Well, as Moammar Gadhafi's forces fight their way toward another rebel stronghold, the United Nations gets set for a key vote in just a few hours. I'll have the details on that right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Two diplomats say the United Nations Security Council will vote today on whether to issue a no-fly zone over Libya. As the U.N. considers what to do, Moammar Gadhafi's forces are fighting their way east toward the rebel strong hold of Benghazi.
State TV reported today they have captured the city of Ajdabiya, which is on the road to Benghazi. But CNN crews in the area say that doesn't appear to be the case. In Benghazi, pro-rebel protesters question why the U.N. hasn't imposed a no-fly zone. Just today, there were air strikes on Benghazi's airport.
Wolf Blitzer is on the road with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is touring north Africa. He's live for us now in Tunisia, that small Arab nation that started the role of recent protests.
Wolf, America had very little to do with what happened in Tunisia to start this all off. How is America and its representative Secretary Clinton being received in Tunisia?
OK. I think we just lost Wolf. We're going to try and reconnect with him in a few minutes. He's in Tunisia. I think he's there now.
Wolf, you got me?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM WITH WOLF BLITZER": Yes, I hear you, Ali. We disconnected for a second.
VELSHI: I don't know if you heard my question, but, you know, the U.S. had nothing to do with what happened in Tunisia. How are the Tunisians receiving Hillary Clinton?
BLITZER: She was very well received here in Tunisia. She just wrapped up at the televised town hall meeting and she was very, very well received. The Tunisians are happy with the way things are unfolding right now. They got rid of their strong man, Ben Ali, they've got a lot of work to do here in Tunisia, but slowly but surely seems to be moving in the right direction.
It looks like they're in better shape here than what is going on in Egypt. I was there yesterday and the day before. They've got a lot of work to do in Egypt to get a real Democratic government in place. But in Tunisia, things are moving in the right direction and it looks like Hillary Clinton had a pretty successful day here. She met with all the top leaders and met with rank and file types, including some of the bloggers who were very instrumental in getting this going.
VELSHI: Wolf, there are serious things going on in the country just to the east of you in Libya. There are still a lot of questions as you pointed out in Egypt, and there are more developments -- troubling developments in Bahrain. All of this, though, has been swept aside in the news by things going on in Japan. The Secretary of State told you some of her feelings about Japan.
What did she say?
BLITZER: You know, she's really, really concerned and it's weighing very heavily on her. She's worried, obviously, about American officials, American diplomats, business people, military personnel. I had a chance to discuss it with her earlier in the day here.
Let me play a little clip for our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Tell us what the latest is. We're deeply concerned about Americans in Japan right now.
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, as you know, the president has authorized the departure of Americans and that's the decision that was made based on all the evidence that we had before the day ended in Washington yesterday. But there will be a continuing evaluation. This is, as I told you, literally a minute by minute analysis and we're doing everything we can to support the Japanese and their heroic efforts in dealing with this unfolding disaster.
BLITZER: This must weigh heavily on you. Even on a trip like this.
CLINTON: Well, it does, Wolf. I mean, this a very serious problem with widespread ramifications. First and foremost, we want to help the Japanese, our great ally, deal with this and limit the damage to the health and safety of the Japanese people. But our primary responsibility, always, is to the health and safety of Americans. And so we are working toward both of those goals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: And she made it clear, Ali, that, you know, as they try to figure out what's going on in Japan, that, you know, a lot of American diplomats and their family members, their dependents, if they want to leave then the president of the United States has now authorized their departure. It's going to be a voluntary-type thing. But, they're monitoring it on a day to day basis. They want to make sure that people don't suffer long-term illnesses as a result of potential radiation poisoning.
VELSHI: Wolf, are you doing your show from Tunisia tonight?
BLITZER: Candy Crowley is doing "THE SITUATION ROOM " tonight. I'll be -- I'm getting -- driving over to the airport right now. We're flying back to Andrews Air Force base tonight (INAUDIBLE), so I'll be in the air. But if they have "THE SITUATION ROOM" or CNN on in the plane, I'll watch it.
VELSHI: All right. Very good, Wolf. Good to talk to you and we'll see you back stateside.
Wolf Blitzer, on his way back from Tunisia, from his tour with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The "New York Times" is still trying to figure out the whereabouts of four missing journalists covering the conflict in Libya. Editors say they have not heard from Anthony Shadid, Tyler Hicks, Stephen Farrell and Lynsey Addario since Tuesday morning Eastern Time. They'd been reporting from the eastern city of Ajdabiya. The paper's executive editor says they've been in contact with the Libyan government and were assured that the four would be released promptly if they had been captured.
There's speculation they were detained at a government check point, but the "Times" hasn't confirmed that. Last November, Lynsey Addario, who's also a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo journalist did her first TV interview with me. We talked about the plight of women Afghanistan and showcased some of her work.
Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Lynsey, you've been covering this since 2000 in Afghanistan. How will real change come to this country given what you've just told me?
LYNSEY ADDARIO, NEW YORK TIMES PHOTO JOURNALIST: I think the only way that change can come to Afghanistan is from the Afghans themselves. And from men in Afghanistan. It's the men who enable their women to go and get educated. It's the men who let the women leave the house. I mean, this is a country where women have to ask permission to leave the house. The this is something that for westerners, we have no thought of that principle, that a woman actually has to ask permission to leave the house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Lynsey is a remarkable journalist and a friend of our show. We continue to pray and hope for her release or at least to hear from her very shortly. We hope we will.
Just ahead in our next hour, Lynsey Addario's husband will join me live. Plus we'll look at whether the four missing journalists are possible game changers in the U.S. getting involved in the Libyan conflict.
Well, Japan's nuclear crisis and last year's Gulf oil spill raise the stakes in the search for alternative energy sources. Today's Big I is all about generating power by tapping into the earth's geothermal energy. Could this be a cheaper and safer and better way to heat your house and to cool it? I'll tell you about that, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): This is the Sendai morning market at 7:30. Vegetables are being unloaded from the trucks and the queue of people waiting for supplies is this long.
There is a serious shortage of food in the disaster zone. The Sendai morning market has been operating even after the earthquake. According to one green grocer, over the past few days, he has been able to obtain merchandise at the central market, but prices are high and because of the gasoline shortage, it is very difficult to secure transport for bringing back the supplies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. Let's check back on the situation in Japan right now, one week after the quake and tsunami disaster. The confirmed death toll, 5,692. At least 9,522 people still missing.
Crews are still out there sifting through hills of debris, but hopes of finding anyone else alive is now becoming slim, especially with the subfreezing weather these last few days. Shipments of food, water and other aid are starting to get to shelters, though. Nearly half a million people are believed to be homeless right now.
To Bahrain in the Middle East, where opposition fighters and human rights groups are criticizing what they call a brutal, devastating crackdown by the government. Security forces attacked protesters in a main square yesterday. It's part of an effort to quash an uprising.
One opposition leader also accuses the authorities of storming a hospital, beating doctors, even pulling one out of surgery. Government officials deny that. Our CNN reporters on the ground say tanks and troops were still at the hospital today, though.
Meantime, a new Amnesty International report says security forces have used excessive force in some of the recent clashes leading to the deaths of eight people. And the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has just accused security forces of harassment, intimidation and quote, "shocking and illegal conduct." According to her statement, government forces allegedly blocked ambulances from transporting injured civilians to doctors and hospitals. These the anti-government protests began in Bahrain last month.
The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, has given his first major television interview since the Mideast turmoil began. It's a Piers Morgan exclusive and covered everything from the Japanese disaster to the prime minister's thoughts on anti-Semitism.
Listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: There is the new boiling anti-Semitism of radical Islam that sweeps Europe as a whole and there's a strange fusion -- it's the only word I can use to describe it -- a fusion with the anti-Semitism of the radical far, far left.
And, you know, this is the strangest union you could possibly contemplate, because the radical Muslims, you know, they stone women, they execute gays, they're against any human rights and against feminism, against what have you. And the far left that is supposed to be for these things, they all unite on one thing, you know? Bashing Israel. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Netanyahu is Piers Morgan's guest for the whole hour tonight, speaking on Egypt, Libya, Hamas and the multiple disasters in Japan. You can see it all 9:00 p.m. Eastern live on CNN.
Now it's time for one of my favorite segments, the "Big I," where we talk every day about innovative and inventions. And today we are look at U.S. Geothermal. It's a company building an experimental geothermal project in Oregon with about a $98.6 million loan guaranteed from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Japan's nuclear crisis and last year's gulf oil spill raises the stakes in the search for alternative energy sources. So let's get right into whether geothermal energy could work for you.
Joining me now is Daniel Kunz, he's the president and CEO of U.S. Geothermal, and our friend Tyler Gray, the deputy editor from FastCompany.com.
Daniel, let's start with you. Tell us about geothermal energy and how it works.
DANIEL KUNZ, PRESIDENT & CEO, U.S. GEOTHERMAL INC.: Great. Good afternoon and thank you.
Geothermal energy is extracting heat out of the Earth, which is plentiful and an in infinite supply, really, if you go into the Earth. We look for where that heat is closer to the surface.
Japan is a nation that is a geothermal nation that has about 500 megawatts of geothermal energy. We, today in the U.S., are the largest producer of geothermal energy.
We take the heat out of the Earth by way of pumping out of wells hot fluid and we go through a heat exchanger, a very sophisticated power plant that basically extracts the heat. We put that fluid back into the earth and then on the other side of our heat exchangers, we're making (AUDIO GAP) electricity by turning turbines.
So they're very clean. It's a closed system. We return that fluid back to the Earth and we extract that energy and make electricity that we sell to our customers.
VELSHI: OK, so it's important for people to remember that you're getting warm, hot water from the Earth, but it's not just a heating thing. You're using that energy to create electricity, so it can be heating, it can be cooling, it can be powering plants.
How much energy can a plant like that that you're building generate?
KUNZ: We have a modularity component to it that we can continue to add modules. Some of these range up to several hundred megawatts in size and some of the smalls runs are around 10 megawatts. A 10- megawatt plant would service some 10,000 homes. VELSHI: All right, Tyler, what are your thoughts on geothermal as a replacement? And people can do this in their own homes in some places. Is this a viable alternative when we're talking about alternative energy?
TYLER GRAY, DEPUTY EDITOR, FASTCOMPANY.COM: Sure, it is. And it's going to be a bit of what hard sell because the average consumer may not see the results of this sort of effort by the Department of Energy in their average monthly bills right away.
What it is, is a push toward a greener economy, toward using these resources to build a domestic program of energy rather than relying on these foreign sources of resources that won't come back.
VELSHI: And how viable is this as an option?
GRAY: I think that it's been proven in a lot of cases, especially overseas. But this particular kind of experimental plant has been tested in the '80s. In the '80s, the Department of Energy went ahead with the plant in California that was a 50-megawatt plant and it ran for three years very successfully.
Beyond that, there hasn't been a whole lot of the testing of this specific kind of experimental program. So that is the big risk here and that is why taxpayer money is involved.
VELSHI: All right, Daniel, I want to ask you this. There's a lot of -- I'm a big supporter of any kind of alternative energy. I mean, I just don't know that there's a future depending on fossil fuels. But there really is a lot of misinformation.
In the last few days, I've heard people tell he me that we can replace all the power generated by nuclear energy with wind and solar. Wind, solar and geothermal all depend on geography, we can't do it everywhere.
So tell me what has to be in place to use geothermal.
KUNZ: You are absolutely right. And there is no way we'll ever (AUDIO GAP) of the power generation coming from coal, natural gas, nuclear. But where wind, geothermal and solar play a big role is where is the power in the next decade going to come from? And it can come from these sources. They're renewable, as your other guest said. They're clean, they reduce our independence on foreign sources.
These are generally geographical from a geothermal perspective in the west. So in the western U.S., we host where the mountain building is between the two ranges, the coastal range and the Rockies, there's significant and very wide-based resources of hot water that are subsurface. They're within the depths of our drilling costs horizons, so that would be somewhere around a mile or less. And those pools where we would build our power plant.
This is not experimental. This is a proven binary cycle. But we're doing is we're using a little different configuration. We're also adding modularity so these power plants are now built in factories. In our case, it'll be in Houston and shipped to the site, thereby reducing the construction risk in the field.
VELSHI: All right, Tyler, give me a bigger picture on this in terms of the fact that -- look, between the BP spill and this nuclear threat in Japan, people are hungry for long-term sources of energy.
Any sense of how much of our electricity generation, something like this, could end up accounting for?
GRAY: Well, it could amount to a significant portion of the power being generated. A lot of that depends on what kind of investment this is going to spur, and there is a little bit of history there.
We're seeing already that the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency has already spent $23.6 million on six projects that are similar to this in terms of green energy and they've already spurred $100 million in private investment over the past year for those efforts.
So it looks liking if this works at all, we might see some private investment, we might see a significant portion of our energy coming from this type of project.
VELSHI: All right, guys, good to talk to you. Thanks very much for bringing this to our viewers' attention. We're committed to talking about alternative types of energy.
Daniel Kunz is the president and CEO of U.S. Geothermal, and Tyler Gray is the deputy editor of one of my favorite magazine, FastCompany.com.
For more on geothermal energy and all of our other "Big I" go to my blog, CNN.com/Ali. We've got links and video and more information for you.
This is still kind of foreign to me, but one of my producers keeps telling me about some basketball tournament going on this month. If you're anything like me, you need a professional to help you understand it. Luckily, I have a professional joining us up next. Stay with me.
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VELSHI: OK, deep inhale. Can you smell it? It's that time of year again, March Madness.
Now, to be completely honest with you, I'm a Canadian. I don't really quite fully grasp this whole madness thing around basketball. We got basketball in Canada, but not the way it is here. I am trying to figure this out because I know a lot of you are. So here's what I can tell you. I've got some paper around here for this.
We starred with 68 college basketball teams vying for the championship title, and I understand that that's up from 65. It is a single-elimination tournament with games being played in several cities culminating with the Final Four being played in Houston on April the 4th.
Fans across the country fill out brackets like these entering into office pools hoping to be the lucky one who picks the eventual winning team.
I actually did one of these with the help of many other people. That is, by the way, where my knowledge of basketball stops.
So to help break the rest of it down for you, let's bring in my good friend, SI.com's B.J. Schecter who clearly knows more about this than I do.
B.J., what makes this so big around the country?
B.J. SCHECTER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, SI.COM: Well, I think it's huge because you mentioned the brackets and that you weren't so much a college basketball fan, but I think anybody can fill out the brackets.
And sometimes knowledge isn't necessarily a good thing when it comes to the NCAA Tournaments. You know, your bracket, if we put yours and mine together, you might do better than I do because --
VELSHI: Why is that? Is it because there are always upsets and other circumstances?
SCHECTER: You know, I think it the reason why this it is embraced all over the country by sports fans and non-sports fans alike is because of the unpredictability of the tournament, because of the passion. We're talking 18, 19, 20-year-old kids, a one-game single elimination. You don't have to be better than a certain team in a seven-game series. You have to be better than that team on one day.
So the ball bounces the right way, you get a smaller school knocking off a traditional power, I think that's the underdogs and the upsets that everybody loves to see.
VELSHI: OK, let's talk about a couple of teams. My producer tells me that Kentucky has got a huge basketball tradition, but they have some issues with their age. What does that mean?
SCHECTER: Well, I think the biggest thing of the NCAA Tournament over the last decade or so, and the reason why you see so many upsets by your Old Dominions, your Butlers, your George Masons is the mere fact that these teams from the lower or mid-major conferences are a lot more experienced and older. The fact that they have juniors and seniors, whereas a Kentucky, North Carolina, a Michigan State will lose its best players every year to the NBA.
So a team like Kentucky that sent four players in the first round of the NBA draft this year has a whole new set of teams. That said, Kentucky -- or players, rather. That said, Kentucky is very talented, but they're young, they haven't been there before. So if they get up against a team that has NCAA Tournament experience and there's no substitute for that, they could possibly run into some trouble.
VELSHI: All right, tell me about Duke. Always a favorite, but they had some problems. They didn't end off their season very well.
SCHECTER: Well, Duke is -- Duke is the defending national champ, and Duke has probably the player of the year Nolan Smith, a first- round draft pick in Kyle Singler who a terrific inside player, terrific shooter.
But the thing about Duke is at the beginning of the year they had a freshman point guard named Kyrie Irving. He was the best player in the country through the first month and a half of the season. He injured his toe and hasn't played for two and a half months.
Kyrie Irving just practiced for the first time the other day and is expected to play in Duke's opening round game tomorrow. So if Irving is anywhere near the way he started the season, Duke becomes a real factor to win this.
I said the other day there are really two elite teams, Kansas and Ohio State, if Kyrie Irving is 75 to 100 percent, Duke becomes a prohibitive favorite again.
VELSHI: B.J., I love you and I love Jason Reed, my producer, on this thing, because we just had a great conversation about basketball and as you know, I'm not kidding, I really know very little about this. But I ended up learning something about this. I ended that I might be competitive with you in my bracket. This is -- I'm beginning to love basketball -- college basketball.
SCHECTER: It's great thing. So we should match our brackets at the end of the first week.
VELSHI: All right. I'll dig around for mine. B.J. good to see you.
B.J. Schecter is the executive editor of SI.com.
Hey, things are moving quickly at the plant in Japan. I've got new information on a plan to get water pumps running and those fuel rods cooling down. I'll bring that to you right after the break.
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