in addition, those same sources outlined the help assad is getting from iran. weapons and computer expertise to root out opposition. their own people. barbara starr is there tonight. and robert bair, and even though we have word of more defections from the syrian army, you re hearing that bashar al assad has a firm grip on power in syria? absolutely, anderson. i spoke with three separate senior u.s. intelligence officials. the assessment is all in agreement. assad remains in control, in charge. commanding his forces. there is no break. they believe, in the inner circle around him. you see these defections. you see some generals fleeing, but this is not his critical inner circle. they have closed ranks, they have determined to fight. they have tucked themselves into it. one of the officials says they re fighting an insurgency, and they believe right now that they will win. and sadly, anderson, the opposition remains fractured and unable to really mount an effective counterof
non-contaminated fish down the road? that s right and certainly any fish that would be very close to the reactor plants could ingest some quantities of radioactive elements and that s true. that would have to be monitored closely. the water is just dilution as it spreads out over the thousands and thousands of miles. with the churning as you say and normal process of dispersion within the water would reduce the levels further and further away from the coast line how concerns are you that there is an increase in radioactive material detected in u.s. milk? i m not concerned at all. these levels are incredibly low. we have such sensitive detectors in the united states that we can detect tiny quantities of radio activity. here s the problem.
[ audio interruption ] around the plant. the plant is not entirely sure where exactly the leak is coming from, whether it s coming from the cooling system or coming from within that. because the workers can only go in at 15 minutes at a time, it makes at it slow protest. we hear from the petco officials, that is the utility company managing the plant, saying that the radioactive substances are in reactor water at all four of the troubled reactor plants now. suggesting that fuel rods have been either exposed or damaged. they have to contain that. at the moment, they deal with the cooling crisis and they have to keep rods cool. that is a difficult job. they were using sea water and that s causing corossive effect on the fa facility and now using fresh water to contain the situation. the u.s. watchdog, atomic watchdog says it will be months before the crisis is solved. shannon: dominic, live for us from japan. thank you very much. in libya now.