rad radioicotopes that degrade at different time periods. eight to ten days for iodine. 30 years to 300 years or more. there are significant issues. as we heard before, we re not going to know the full extent of the damage until we see exactly how much of that core was melted and how much radiation has spread. richard, when we hear about taiwan getting some tainted proceed u produce there. what about the united states? how much importing do we do of vegetables or products like that or west coast or hawaii? we import less than 4% of our food supply from japan. our risks are relatively small. the problem is if a radiation plume was released and if another explosion occurred and a much more significant one
senator from new hampshire, thanks for coming on. thanks, rick. take care. rick: you, too. martha: traces of radiation have been detected on u.s. flights back from japan. details on that and also the radiation plume that has reportedly now reached the continental u.s. this morning, we ll give you the latest information just coming in on that. rick: in japan, a race against the clock, u.s. experts are warning that if japanese officials don t get control of the planted in the next 24 hours, they could have a situation that could prove to be deadly for decades. can they realistically get it under control? and what if they don t? we ll ask the nuclear experts, straight ahead. we wiped the slate clean.
and in the meantime reports just coming in, this past hour, the radiation plume from japan has now reached the continental u.s. so, how worried should americans be about this? we have had reports that this will be safe, that it is nothing to be concerned about. has the president done enough in his handling of this situation? send me your thoughts on that. send me a tweet, @martha maccallum, coming up. rick: and oil and gas price going back up, what you should be ready for, we ll talk about that. and a dramatic homecoming for a missionary jailed in haiti, for months. bill hemmer interviewed his wife, you may remember, last week and now the homecoming and details, straight ahead.
but libya is still part of it is a chamber that does not matter the real morality, they it is in a fancy chamber in geneva and every state gets to weigh in if it wants to and that is how you get the united states being judged by countries which are actually in some cases, i would argue, even worse abusers if you can imagine that, than qaddafi. they hide some of it better. for instance, iran. or north korea. neil: i wish i had more time to chat but i have to run up to the gym and get them hopping on the treadmills. thank you very much. man . anyway the radiation plume is here.
survivors. american troops are involved in search and rescue operations on the ground. the united states is breaking with the japanese in one way here warning wuhl americans to stay 50 miles from the crippled nuclear plant in fukushima. right now radiation plume is drifting across the pacific toward the west coast of america. an agency at the united nations is predicting it could arrive at the west coast sometime tomorrow. chief modical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta joins us live from tokyo now. a lot of health issues to discuss. first of all the workers at the site we have had a few nuclear experts we ve had on our show over the past few days that say this is basically a suicide mission that these people are sacrificing themselves if you will for the national good, and then we talked earlier with one of the men who was over at three mile island when it happened, he