national nuclear security administration. thank you so much for being here. most of our viewers don t have anywhere near your expertise, i don t have near your expertise. can you tell us in plain english what you believe is happening at the plant right now and what the main thing you are concerned about is? this is basically a race on multiple fronts between the technicians in japan and their efforts to cool the nuclear fuel rods, both those in reactors that had been operating and those that were spent fuel in storage, and the internal heat of those fuel rods, which that residual heat is extremely powerful and can boil water away. and so the technicians are working hard under very difficult circumstances. they are short-handed, he they are in a atmosphere of elevated radio activity. they ve got equipment that was
how high up this steam cloud goes. because the higher it goes up, the further distance the radio activity the radioactive material might be carried. i think it s going to be very careful to monitor. shepard: i didn t mean to interrupt, tim, you know we have this hideous delay. to that end if we can get somebody from the weather center up. we know there are two sets of prevailing winds. one is at the lower level. it s been a very windy day today. in fact, it s morning now. it s like 8:00. 8:15 in the morning. we are waiting for a storm to come. the weather forecasters here have promised that there will be a storm. higher winds than normal on the northeast coast there is a another level ofin u hhe inhe atmosere. i knowhayou a sayg theurce levelin a not ryigant ab t re ntho uerev striurntitou te the radiation much farther and in fact many more people. tim, here is what i want to get toith you yeery, this fe burd yesterday. and tokyo electric pow company
yokata air base. there is plenty to talk about this morning. reporter: yess, that is right. the nuclear crisis is moving to a more dangerous level now. the japanese government. there is a major radiation leak in the fukushima plant that is so troubled over the last few days with all of the explosionns. the national nuclear agency said the fire that started in the storage that stores nuclear fuel. radio activity is released directly in the atmosphere now. the japanese say they managed to put out the fire and according to reports they had help from the u.s. military in doing it. radiation levels soared around the complex . japanese authorities told people to stay in their homes and seal the doors and winditose avoid becoming sick. japanese prime minister said radiation is released from
has ever seen. brand-new hour of america live. welcome everyone, i m megyn kelly. earlier today another massive aftershock, possibly the largest yet, magnitude 6.1 rumbling the ground under tokyo this morning. this as american troops help fight fires at the fourth reactor, all taking place at the fukushima. they have exposed at least 23 people to radiation and now a spike in radio activity being detected not just by the plants but nearly 200 miles away in tokyo. shepard smith is live on the ground in tokyo right now with the latest, shepard. you know there are reports obviously those around fukushima, there have been radiation exposure, reports of increased levels in tokyo and now we re hearing perhaps even farther away from the plant than tokyo. what are you hearing about that on the ground there? reporter: well, you know,
up to a 7.5 magnitude earthquake after the upgrade, the one in japan this weekend is considered to have been a 9.0. joining sus ruus is rush holt. thank you very much for being with us. guard to be with you and thanks for the reports from bob and lee. this is a good program thank you very much. nice of you to say that. let me get your reaction to what bob was talking about the news that this third explosion at this reactor in japan may be more serious than the previous two and there was a release of radio activity. an american public listening to you tonight thinking of you as a wngman and a physicist. what s your understanding of the severity? it is troubling and this is one of the worst, maybe the second worse nuclear accidents in the history of nuclear power.