thousands contracted cancers related to that incident. and radio activity was spread by the winds, thousands of miles contaminating land over belarus, russia, ukraine, france and italy. people who survives the quake and tsunami are finding long lines of grossly stores and gas stations. i-report david powell shot these photos. grocery stores are crowded with people trying to stock up and buy things that will probably start to run short. bread was very lard to find. he said dairy products were selling out. that s what we re seeinging empty shelves. of course, tokyo is the most populous city in the world with 30 million people. the earthquake was fell there as well. let s see how the city s coping two days later. steven joins us from tokyo via
several hundred times it s normal operating power. and a big explosion right in the very center of the reactor where the fuel was. they have fragments of fuel. 150, 250 meters away from the plant and an enormous cloud release of radioactive material. we re 48 hours past when nuclear fission stopped here. a lot of the very worst of the radio activity will have died away we re several days away from safety. but i believe that the response has been proportionate and efficient. workers pouring sea water into the reactor to cool fuel rods. more than 50,000 people have been evacuated. 160 being tested for possible explosionure to radioactive material. cnn senior international correspondent matthew chance live with more on this story.
agencies go in and check the numbers. what s of concern? what is on the top of your mind right now? there was a partial meltdown. uranium is a heavy metal. it s like a laead. some of it is a fishing product. some of it comes out when heat is generated got out in the air. some people got contaminated with radio activity. and this is all bad and very scary. and this is, as everybody keeps saying, the third very large catastrophe or big accident at a nuclear plant we ve had in a long time. but yesterday there were people across germany concerned about more nuclear power. what sit about nuclear power that makes us so afraid. i think first of all are the nuclear weapons. another thing is here is an example. this country is the best prepared in the world. japan, their regulations are
explosive . that resulted in the explosion. harris: the hinden burg. that is a good example of what that substance can do. 12 mile evacuation zone. what does that tell you? we are concerned that that is in fact undersized if this reactor blows up. we are concerned about the affect of once it that containment is lost and the structure that surrounds all of that nuclear fuel as it melts down. it would spread tremendous amounts of radio activity and it will be born on the weather and however far the weather will take it. harris: the wind and rain. that is clearly the concern right now that the radioactive cloud would be born on the weather. wow. all right. paul gunter spell out for us. we appreciate your expertise. thank you for joining us
meltdown. it could have a leak that would go in the case chernobyl, hundreds of thousands of miles. the entire northern help meme fr was effected in 1986. i believe it s the fact that it s the further you get away, the less dangerous the leak is. i was in the northern hemisphere and i don t think i have radio activity from 1986. i m not sure it would have a lethal effect but the radiation could come cross the pacific ocean. we send our thoughts and prayers to the people in the nearest area of trouble. there are a lot of discussions about what it means for the future of nuclear power in the u.s. absolutely. we talked about that with mitch mcconnell. it s interesting because in the past, nuclear power has been a pro republican issue and the democrats are very much opposed