they re pumping more seawater into the reactor. it s the only solution they have even though they have access to other water. that s in an attempt to try to cool the reactor. strangely enough though, officials say despite pumping water the levels are about the same meaning the reactors are still being exposed. what they re still hoping is ve if there is some damage to the reactor itself, some disintell gralgs that there s another containment around it. that being said some radiation has been detected. most of it has come from steam being released. this is a venting post. but officials have gone to great pains to reassure people that those levels are not high enough to be harmless. there are exclusions around there where over 200,000 people have been evacuated. many more than 100,000 people
monitors detected what may have been the melting of a fuel rod at the plant but there is no sign of dangerous radiation levels in the area. on cnn s state of the union today, candy crowley asked japan s ambassador to the united states about efforts to cool the reactors. it is better to put in clear water, but we do not have enough supply of clear water there, so we are putting in sea water. it is not necessarily a sign that things are dire, it is a sign that you don t have the kind of water you d like to use? we do not if there s clear water, it would be better for reactor itself, but in order to cool down the sea water, it would have the same effect as clear water. the effect we are trying to get is trying to get the reactor to cool down. several u.s. rescue and assistance teams arrived in japan today. more than 3,000 people have been rescued since the earthquake and tsunami struck. but many more are still missing.
we may be in a situation in japan that may have that consequence. if it did have that consequence, the result would be, of course, very devastating for the reactor itself, but the consequences for the people living in the vicinity would be very minor. so when we think about and again, i m going to go back to chern only even though it s not a perfect analogy. i know when chernobyl groek down there were effects of that with radiation clouds in sweden. do you have any concern with what s happening right now with these nuclear power plants in japan that anything could come via cloud or in any other way have radiation disbursed that would hit along the hawaii islands or anywhere along the west coast? i think it s important to recognize this is an entirely different situation than what we
the numbers 5 and 6 appear to be the least troubled. so those, apparently, are stable. the big problems are at reactors 3 and 4. smoke seen rising from number 3. they ve evacuated all workers. they re not clear if it s come from the reactor itself, but the fear is, the pressure is rising that steam is coming out. remember, number 3 is the only one that uses plutonium. that is much more toxic than uranium. and the concern is, because the containment shell is damaged that you would have that radioactive material, very dangerous, spewing into the atmosphere. we re also learning that 10 days before the quake and before the tsunami, tokyo electric company admitted they failed to inspect 33 pieces of equipment on the six reactors,
that was contained inside the reactor itself, inside the plant. outside the plant, those radiation levels have been very dramatic falling. and this is what the authority, the officials have had to say about that. not so long ago. translator: the level has come down to the level to cause no harm to human health according to the report i have received. now, as you re saying here, the levels have come down, and that s consistent with what we ve seen in past days. you would see a spike in the radiation levels, and then it would rapidly come down as this material disperses and starts to break down. but, of course, at the same time, there is this 20-kilometer exclusion zone. people have been evacuated as we ve been talking about. and the prime minister has warned people within a 30-kilometer zone must stay inside, keep the windows shut, and the doors closed. a lot of questions to be