plant in northeastern japan, reactors one and three are in partial meltdown. americans helping in the relief mission have been exposed. it is very telling that a ship that far out was detecting radiation. fear of a nuclear meltdown is spreading to american politics, and the debate over energy. it now has u.s. senators weighing in on nuclear power. still willing to look at nuclear. if we put the brakes on. i don t think after a major environmental catastrophe is a good time to make american domestic policy. should the u.s. pull the brakes on nuclear development? we are going to continue to seek to diversify energy supplies. we don t abandon highway systems because bridges and overpasses collapse during earthquakes. good evening. the situation at japan s fukushima nuclear plant has gotten worse. japan s nuclear safety agency just reported an explosion has been heard at reactor unit 2.
there might be another extension needed after april 8th. keep an eye on those tea partiers, how many of them will support this short-term extension. a lot of them not happy about the current deal on the table. back to japan. as authorities there work to avert a nuclear meltdown, some scientists warn that what is happening in fukushima could happen here in the already frajic bipartisan coalition that supports nuclear power, appears to be fraying. i think we ve got to quietly and quickly put the brakes on until we can absorb what has happened. i don t think right after a major environmental catastrophe is a very good time to be making american domestic policy. lisa myers is nbc news senior investigative correspondent and has been looking a lot into this issue. let s talk about the safety of our own nuclear plants here in the united states. we have two in our own basic quake zone in california. what can you say? reporter: well, nuclear
we expect our government to be. it s going to be important that the public demand and the press demand they be forthcoming about what the actual dangers are and not sugar coat it and gloss over the truth. that conversation has already started. some american politicians are considering whether to stop construction of new nuclear power plants here in the u.s. senator schumer, lieberman and mcconnell all expressing their concerns on the sunday talk shows. i m still willing to look at nuclear as i ve always said, it has to be done safely and carefully. i don t want to stop the building of nuclear power plants but i think we have to kind of quietly quickly put the brakes on until we can absorb what s happened as a result of the earthquake and tsunami. this discussion reminds me somewhat of the conversations that were going on after the bp oil spill. i don t think right after a major environmental catastrophe is a very good time to be making american domestic policy.
is a very good time to be making american domestic policy. i think we ought to just concentrate on helping the japanese in any way that we can. we re going to have to see what happens here. obviously, it s still still things are happening. i m still willing to look at nuclear, as i ve always said. it has to be done safely and carefully. welcome back to hardball. that was an array of opinion, and some of the reaction on sunday to what s happening in japan politically here at home. are u.s. reactors ready to handle a similar disaster? we ve seen the political reaction, but now democratic congressman ed markey, an expert in this field, he s been chairman in fact, he s ranking member, but he s been expert on the democratic side for decades. now, mr. markey, here s the question. it seemed like the president, a democrat, and many democrats were willing, given the kpenlgsy of our energy needs in the world, the dependence on the middle east with all its craziness and uncertainty, we
american domestic policy. i think we ought to just concentrate on helping the japanese in any way we can. we ll have to see what happens here, obviously. it s still things are happening. i m still willing to look at nuclear as i ve always said it has to be done safely and carefully. welcome back to hardball . that was an array of opinion and some of the reaction on sunday in what s happening in japan. are u.s. reactors ready to hand all similar disaster. massachusetts democratic congressman ed markey an expert in this field. he s ranking member but the expert on the democratic side for decades. now mr. markey, here s the question. it seemed like the president, a democrat and many democrats were willing given the exogency of our energy needs in the world, the dependency on the middle east with its craziness and uncertainty we were willing to go into an area we didn t want to go into, nuclear. now we see the danger in the other direction. what will it do to our politic?