right away, and it wasn t even noticed, wasn t noticed to the electrical grid. but the diesel backup generators were able to handle the problem and also during the 2003 blackout, they also had to turn those backup diesel generators to keep those nuclear rods cooled. that s the essential thing here. the pumps run by electricity, circulate water, keep the rods cool. otherwise they can evap wait the wat evaporate the water in the pools and there is potential for the melt ju meltdown like we have seen in japan. fortunately nothing like that has happened here. thank you, allan. president obama says he hopes that libya s opposition movement can regain momentum and force moammar gadhafi from power. but the president discussed the u.s. mission in libya in an interview with our spanish language network, cnn.
serious questions remain about how japan is handling the nuclear reactor crisis. anderson cooper s in tokyo, has the japanese government or power company provided any additional information to clear things up? reporter: it sounded like the iaea had had one step forward, reporting power had been restored. power had been connected to reactor number two. tepco, the company that runs the reactors, said the iaea report is not true. they are trying to restore power to reactor number two. ultimately they re going to try to restore power to reactor number two. that s what started this cascade of problems, the lack of power to keep the rods cool.
like this are now sticking out. they are in open air, which means they are reacting and spewing radiation into the air, and experts point out if there is a hole no matter how much water you stick back in you re still not going to be able to keep those rods cool. if there is a hole because of radiation you can t fix it. that means they talk about that chernoble solution where they go in and drop tons antons of sand and concrete because it s a catch-22 because experts say you can t really dump the sand in the concrete becaus before you t cooled, it would melt the glass and compromise the concrete. it s a mess, the severity level has increased, megyn. right now we see no signs of that severity level going back the other way. megyn: such conflicting information on that. the iaea calling it extremely serious, a race against the clock.
rods cool, the water would also have a shielding effect on the radioactivity as well. but if the pools are destroyed or empty or leaking or if the water in them is heating up to the point where it may boil off, then the fuel rods in those pools will heat up and start to break down and they will release their radioactivity and it will go into the air. and that may be what has already happened. that may be the cause of the levels of radioactivity at daiichi now that are described as extremely high. radioactivity levels in the air above these karmic mccarthy meets mad max destroyed reactor buildings, radioactivity levels so high that they turned back japanese security forces aircraft trying to get close enough to help. radioactivity levels on the ground at the site high enough to keep japanese water cannon trucks further away than the 50 yards they wanted to set up at in order to shoot water into those reactors. and this is not just a tragedy for those workers working at
conflicting opinions on the situation in japan s damaged nuclear plants. america s nuclear regulatory agency says there is nothing to keep exposed fuel rods from melting down, but japan s agency says water does remain at the reactors to keep the rods cool. concerns over deteriorating conditions caused the markets to plunge another day. the dow dropping 242 points. the new york times is reporting that four of its journalists covering the ongoing violence in libya are now missing. editors say they last heard from the reporters yesterday. for more details visit foxnews.com. glenn beck returns in a moment. but first, bret previews special report. bret: hi, coming up. violence increases in bahrain as troops try to put down protests before they multiply. new attacks in libya, as secretary of state hillary clinton again weighs in. join me in 25 minutes for special report. now back to glenn.