systems there and bringing that one under control. number three is where they re focusing most of the cooling efforts because they simply see an opportunity there. they believe they might be able to do that. but number four in many ways remains the biggest worry simply because number four has had so much damage. again, those spent rods are exposed and it s not clear if they have any cooling around them or not. thanks so much, tom foreman. just when we begin to understand one problem, there seems to be another. joining us now, cnn contributor jim walsh, an expert on international security at m.i.t. let me ask you, mr. walsh, from the news you ve heard today, and i want to reemphasize the news we just heard, and that is that they have completed laying the power line, but it s not yet activated into the reactor. that can t be anything but great news. absolutely. first of all, it s the first day since this started that the news
the crippled nuclear plant. they attempted four helicopter drops. only one of the drops of water actually hit its mark. that is nowhere near what is needed. the spend fuel rods as we understand have been exposed now. there s no water covering them whatsoever. that is an extremely dangerous situation. a cloud of radioactive steam preventing earlier efforts to cover those in water. it could be critical because of a dire warning, that warning, that dire warning did not come from japanese officials, it came from an american official. so the credibility gap between what the japanese government is saying and what is really happening and what seems to be growing. we re keeping them honest tonight. astonishing new images. we ll tell you what could be going on inside the wreckage. remember, this is just one of the disasters unfolding. total destruction up in the
months to actually resolve, but what the u.s. sads, which is critical that the u.s. said, was that spend fuel rods in reactor 4, they said there was little to no water, and therefore those spent fuel rods had been completely exposed, spewing radiation up into the air. if that is in fact the case, which u.s. officials say they believe it is, based not only on the information they re getting from u.s. authorities, but also from data they have collected. you have special aircraft to monitor radiation overhead as well. japanese officials said they cannot confirm whether or not or how much water there may be this the pools in reactor number four. japanese officials have been focused in the last 12, 18 hours very carefully and very systematically on the spent fuel
there was speculation it was damage. the question is really a hole had opened up in it. each day that pass where is we don t see evidence of that, that s a good thing. now with all the good news, and it is good news. there s still an ongoing issue with unit four, and that nuclear waste on site that had lost water. now it may be there s water there. helicopter passover seemed to a show there was water in it. contrary to announcements yesterday. when you only have a little bit of water hean these rods are hot, they re going to boil it off. so the spent fuel t nuclear waste at unit four, that continues to be an issue. they need to get power going. they have a power line. that s awesome. now the question is do other little parts in between having electricity and running the pumps, are they going to work in the cables and switches and everything you need to also function. will they function?
but they were dropping from high up in the air. nonetheless, they say there was some cooling here of the core and the area where they stored the spent rods. but the spent rods remain the biggest issue. that s over here in number four. i want to widen out and show you what we re talking about once again. in number four and in number three, the concern is not sho much the main part down here. this area over here, the rod area that is outside of that facility, the debate on number four ha all day long has been is there water there or not? some say no. others say, yes, there s some water, so it s not the risk that others fear at this moment. nonetheless, there s a lot of concern here. as a practical matter, this is what s happening. number two is where they re focusing efforts now because it seems like they have the best chance of restoring normal