would also expect to see some plutonium found around fukushima because we know that radiation has been released, we know that steam was released earlier when the explosions happened. what we need to understand better and, unfortunately, this is going to take more time, is precisely the makeup of those radionuclides, how much, what intensity and if and when this is stabilized jenna: right. a full assessment of how much. jenna: and that question of when it s stabilized. it s still a question we have almost every single day now, paul, and it s been going on for more than two weeks. what can you tell us about the progress? we keep on, it almost seems sounding the red alert, but at this point it s starting to all sort of sound the same. what should we be watching in the days ahead? what we should be watching is continued readings and measurements about radiation, what type of radiation, and where it has traveled. is it only in the soils immediately around the vicinity? is it getting
reporting slightly elevated radiation levels in water. now, the japan disaster just for some context here is now expected to be the costliest in history with damages of $300 billion. that s followed by a quake in japan back in is 895 and hurricane katrina 1995. paul carol roll is program directer of plowshares fund and has worked on nuclear west issue nuclear waste issues. paul, let s start with the levels of radiation we re detecting here at home. the long-term effect, as we continue to see radiation levels not just today, but in the weeks and months to come, what does the build-up do? is there such a thing as radioactive build-up? is. well, you ask a very good question. the nature of radiation is not very well understood when it comes to long-term exposure at low levels. and that s why when we talk about risk, what we can say is
groundwater? what we have at this point, i would say, is a little bit more good news than bad. the first ten days of this crisis were just bad news after bad news, explosions, fuel melting. we do seem to be on a trajectory toward better news, but we re not out of the woods yet. when we do get out of the woods, what we then need is sort of a captain kirk calling scotty in the control room and saying, all right, scotty, i need to know exactly what s wrong with our ship. and that s what we need to wait for. it s very frustrating, but we need to have solid measurements, confidence in those measurements and, really, a full damage assessment. jenna: all right. certainly a lot more to this story as you so appropriately point out, paul. thank you so much for your expertise today. look forward to talking to you again. thank you. jenna: interesting stuff. still going to be a big story. gregg: yeah, it sure is. jenna: american troops are helping the rebels in libya. president obama says we re t