comparing to other cities in fukushima that it's quite you know but the factories that. you can't grandees we dangerous right now and it's quite impossible to showing the people who would leave just next to this. nuclear plant which is really damaged. and you've been covering the plight of people living in the area right now what are some major concerns that they have i mean are they concerned with being called back to live right in the proximity of the disaster that's still on for them. to tell the truth many of them. don't want to be consume. and. to try to trust in some kind of way the learned. which says that it's going to be ok there is no i mean and injure. and the one that will really will all the mothers that. their children and and his mother i think they're really going crazy with this situation because if i create for several reasons and financial reason find a reason. many reason that make them implicitly to eventually right now and. this is that situation might never i can tell you that many people are also through the. they don't want to have it create beca

almost two years ago the city of fukushima incurred a devastating meltdown in three of its six nuclear reactors mediately following the disaster the japanese government said they would implement zero nuclear policy in a post fukushima world by twenty four however japan's new prime minister elect is set to unveil a new energy policy that will dismantle the previous plan to eliminate nuclear power in the country now is the pro-business japanese government rushes to get back on its nuclear facilities back in operation the world is just beginning to see the impact of the meltdown and the toll it's taken on human health and on the environment and addition to the detrimental long term radioactive effects in the region a report just released by japan's education ministry shows that children are already feeling the impact and other ways the findings reveal that kids who live in fukushima are now the most obese in the country because their fear of leaving the house and getting dose of radiation it's clear that as this disaster continues to unfold hundreds of thousands of lives are still being a

workers at the fukushima daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern japan are starting off the new year preparing for a delicate operation. tokyo electric power company crews need to remove hundreds of spent fuel rods that are being stored on site. it's the first major step toward decommissioning the facility, a process that's expected to take 40 years. >>> prime minister shinzo abe visited fukushima daiichi on the weekend and expressed his intention to extend full government support. >> translator: the state of emergency is over and we're now in a transition phase with efforts focused on decommissioning. the government will do all it can to help speed up this process. >> during the initial decommissioning phases tepco workers will need to remove thee pool in the reactor 4 building. they took out two rods last july during a trial. tepco engineers have since studied how to remove about 1,500 others. they plan to start mid-november and complete the process in december 2014, a year earlier than initially scheduled. they want to remove the rods as soon as possible because of concerns about the storag

comparing to other cities in fukushima that it's quite you know but the factories that. you campgrounds we dangerous right now and it's. implicitly to. people who will leave just next to this. nuclear plant which is we need damaged. and you've been covering the plight of people living in the area right now what are some major concerns that they have i mean are they concerned with being called back to live right in the proximity of the disaster that's still unfolding. their concern. to tell the truth many of them. don't want to be considered. and. to try to trust in some kind of a way to go and i learned. that it's going to be ok it was no more and you injure. and one that will really will eat all the mothers that. children in india is mother f. ing the weakling crazy with this situation because declawing even. several eastern china should reason find the reason. many reason that make them implicitly to eventually right now and. this is that situation might never i can tell you that many people are also and should. they do want to live it could be good if the situation is

the possibility of active faults under nuclear plants anticipate the accident in fukushima last year have prompted many japanese to question the use of atomic energy. the former government said it would aim to take all react ors off line within a couple of decades but now a new government is in power and promising a different approach. >> reporter: kaho izumitani is putting everything on the table when it comes to energy policy. they will explore possibilities including restarting nuclear reactors. >> translator: we need to decide our energy policy based on technical assessments. we will not start with the conclusion of halting nuclear power generation by the 2030s. >> reporter: the previous administration led by former prime minister yoshihko noda drafted an energy policy that stated the government would aim to shut down all nuclear plants by the 2030s. before last year's accident in fukushima, nuclear power accounted for 26% of the total energy supply in japan. currently only two out of 50 reactors in the country are online adding a mere 3% to the supply. fossil fuels are taking up

an accident occurred at power plants across the world in between true nobile and fukushima they weren't much spoken about as they did not cause casualties. and after fukushima people all over the world went onto the streets to protest nuclear iran aegean according to the french atomic energy commission research no technical innovation can only manage the risk of human error in nuclear plant operation a team of scientists from the massachusetts institute of technology came up with an estimate that given the expected growth of nuclear power up to the year two thousand and fifty five at least three serious nuclear power accidents would be expected in that period. well what you agree to that a survey sion of mit because this is a respected institution so they predict three major nuclear accidents in the near future would you think that will happen or usually here. so as i mentioned surveying the mechanism of yours or it's a different well yeah well this is very interesting if i can ask you to explain to the viewers. make it easy the principle difference between fusion and fission what why i

the ghost town of fukushima. we speak to thetten or fvigotten victims of japan's nuclear disaster including those who risked all to help. welcome to world news america. financial markets around the world have a good start to the new year after american politicians come up with a last- minute deal to avoid falling back into recession. the tortures nature of the political negotiations suggest washington is going to struggle over future economic decisions. today's excitement might be short-lived. >> smiles of relief on wall street today as the new york stock exchange reopens. relief as a last-minute deal averted a looming economic crisis. markets around the world were cheered by the news. in asia, shares jumped and the pattern was repeated across europe. this was the moment of truth late last night, the first and new year's day vote in congress since the korean war 60 years ago. a vote on a compromise agreement that neither party loves. >> virtually no 1 believes that what we have before us tonight is a long-term so

the ghost town of fukushima. we speak to the forgotten victims of japan's nuclear disaster including those who risked all to help. welcome to world news america. financial markets around the world have a good start to the new year after american politicians come up with a last- minute deal to avoid falling back into recession. the tortures nature of the political negotiations suggest washington is going to struggle over future economic decisions. today's excitement might be short-lived. >> smiles of relief on wall street today as the new york stock exchange reopens. relief as a last-minute deal averted a looming economic crisis. markets around the world were cheered by the news. in asia, shares jumped and the pattern was repeated across europe. this was the moment of truth late last night, the first and new year's day vote in congress since the korean war 60 years ago. a vote on a compromise agreement that neither party loves. >> virtually no 1 believes that what we have before us tonight is a long-term solution.

. >> reporter: it will take at least 30 years to decommission the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. there's a lot of work to be done. radiation levels are too high for workers to be inside for long. and that's where the robots come in. the first one inside was made in the u.s. it was used to collect data on physical damage and radiation. japanese robot developers felt they'd been beaten to the punch and they wanted to do more. >> translator: there were no japanese robots in there. people were wondering what our robots were even for so we were determined to make a difference no matter how small. >> reporter: the team was tasked with reimagining a domestic robot for use inside the plant. the quinn was a rescue robot designed to operate in disaster zones like collapsed buildings. its body was covered in treads that enabled it to climb through rubble and up steep staircases. intense heat, extreme humidity and other obstacles stood in the way of a successful mission inside the fukushima daiichi plant. it had shallow rectangular treads that wouldn't let it hook on to the rounded steps. t

it is one of the significant lessons from fukushima. we frankly find that there very often training lessons learned from any number of occurrences throughout industry. in this particular case, when you think about the magnitude of the event and the situation that the operators at this particular nuclear site found themselves in, it was unpress kented in any of the education and training. i think one of the hess sons is to take that idea of a mag feud event that exceeds what we general design in to our sites and going both educate what defense and depth can really provide and train to the coping strategies in a situation like that that would be, you know, that may allow the level of resilience that may not have been designed in to site in the first place. it's just, you know, this was remarkable in the scope there were courageous operators that remain at the watch at the fukushima attempting to mitigate what happened to them. obviously, in retrospect additional education and training could have only helped. >> i'm curious. say what you w

they say it's a concern especially after the 2011 accident in fukushima. more than 70 government officials and experts from 16 countries are taking part in the three-day conference in shizuoka city. a u.s. nuclear expert miles pomper questioned japan's policy of pursuing nuclear fuel cycling even after the fukushima accident. >> moving forward with additional generation of plutonium for the reactors is just not very sensible. >> pomper said the risk of a terrorist attack could go up if japan has a larger amount of unnecessary plutonium. the u.s. must main taint high nuclear technology because many developing countries want nuclear power. >>> criminals in japan have raked in record amounts of money using fraud. police say con artists stole about $400 million last year from victims due in part to more sophisticated techniques. these scammers have in the past pretended to be family members of their targets. they phone to ask for money and convince their victims to make bank transfers, but in more than half the cases last year con artists visited their victims

. -- the tsunami in japan caused a nuclear crisis in the fukushima. there is another group that the outside world hears nothing about and they are the workers to stay at the plant and still there today. our tokyo correspondent has been to the radiation zone to meet some of them. >> in the early winter sunlight, the fields around our bucolic except when you realize that these were once rice paddies. now the weeds are as tall as a man. washing still hangs where it was left, a damaged roof tiles are where they fell when the wave struck. on the surface, it looks pretty normal, but then listen -- nothing. apart from ourselves, there is nobody in this village and there has been no be there for two years. the people that lived here fled leaving everything behind. if we spent less than an hour here, all around us invisible in the soil, the radiation lenders. the cloud of radioactive dust spewed forth which was blown down the valley. on a hilltop above the village, this man watched it happen. this is clearly visible on the horizon. he has refused to leave or s

and when i was living there. >> reporter: itate lies just 40 kilometers from the fukushima daiichi power plant. radiation released after the nuclear accident in 2011 forced everyone in the town to leave their homes. in the fall of that year nakajima visited children who had relocated to nearby towns. >> translator: after the quake the children seemed rather depressed. to make them happier and more energetic, i thought it would be good if they painted some pictures with colorful scenes. >> reporter: nakajima asked the children to paint pictures of the itate village the way they remembered it. the children used bright colors to depict their home town. >> translator: the children really taught me something. they're acting so bravely it makes you want to cry. >> reporter: people gathered on march 11th last year at a park in tokyo to mark the first anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami. they wanted to encourage residents in the disaster area. nakajima and a friend painted itate village and mount fuji. after that people wrote messages of support for those displaced by the disaster. to brin

it is one of the significant lessons from fukushima if. we find there are very often training lessons learned from any number of occurrences throughout the industry. in this particular case when you think about the magnitude of the event and the such a vision that the operators of this particular nuclear site found themselves in, it was unprecedented in any of their in education and training and one of the lessons is to take that idea of a magnitude event that exceeds what we generally designed to our sites and begin to both educate what defense and depth can provide and turn to the coping strategies in a situation like that if i would be -- that may allow it level of resilience that may not have been designed into the site in the first place. this was remarkable in its scope. there was some courageous operators that remained at the watch at fukushima attending to mitigate what happened to them. obviously in retrospect additional education and training could have only helped in that regard. >> a quarter i'm also curious if you can address

fukushima's ideas are sparking reaction, both here and in overseas. sdplz fascinating there. many people in eastern australia have been pelted by. >> reporter: you're right, catherine, east and west australia has been playing with a system that was once tropical storm oswald. rain has been recorded in parts of cleveland. to show you the situation, let's go to some video. severe weather conditions have caused a torrential rain, tornadoes and flooding. at least one person has been reported dead and several others are injured. authorities say around 60,000 residents are without electricity and hundreds of houses are under water. they remain on alert of constructive winds and dangerous surf, so further flooding is highly likely. . please be careful if we have to go outside. . beware of fallen trees and power lines. now the system is moving towards the south, aiming for new south wales, so please take precautions against the heavy rainfall. these are snow clouds, and some of them are reaching the pacific side where we don't usually get heavy snow, even the tokyo area, so no snow t

growing economies with high energy demands and say this is in spite of strong public opposition after the fukushima disaster. they both guarantee the safety of nuclear energy. the administration is working on transforming the energy policies. the trade minster said the country will export nuclear infrastructure after ensuring that it's safe. >> translator: japan has accumulated technology and human resources related to nuclear power. we would like the chance to put these to use. meeting partners's request and safety will be the major premises of this effort. we want to keep exporting our nuclear power infrastructure. >> japan has been promoting exports of the generation facilities even after the disaster in fukushima. the previous administration led by the democratic party signed pacts with countries such as vietnam and jordan in 2011, enabling it to transport the technology. the comments suggest the government is willing to follow the new government policy. prime minister abe is riding high according to a poll. voters handed his administration a victory in a landslide election. two-thirds say they

. >> officials at tokyo electric power started their work at a new headquarters in fukushima prefecture. tepco opened the office so it could better handle damage claims and decontamination work related to the accident. >> translator: we will always keep in mind how disaster victims are suffering. we will do everything we can to help evacuees return home as soon as possible. >> tepco intends to station more than 4,000 employees at the fukushima recovery headquarters. >>> the u.s. labor department released the latest jobs report for december. it shows a slight improvement. the jobless rate has been below 8% for four straight months. u.s. employers added 155,000 jobs in the non-farm sector, that includes health care, food and beverage services and construction. the total is more than they forecast. in november, employers added 161,000 jobs. irt wa it was revised from 146,000. traders at the tokyo stock exchange were buying and selling on friday for the first time in 2013. they also marked their first day of business as part of the japan exchange group. the tse has merged with the osaka sec

. >> officials at tokyo electric power started their work at a new headquarters in fukushima prefecture. tepco opened the office so it could better handle damage claims and decontamination work related to the accident. >> translator: we will always keep in mind how disaster victims are suffering. we will do everything we can to help evacuees return home as soon as possible. >> tepco intends to station more than 4,000 employees at the fukushima recovery headquarters. >>> the u.s. labor department released the latest jobs report for december. it shows a slight improvement. the jobless rate has been below 8% for four straight months. u.s. employers added 155,000 jobs in the non-farm sector, that includes health care, food and beverage services and construction. the total is more than they forecast. traders at the tokyo stock exchange were buying and selling on friday for the first time in 2013. they also marked their first day of business as part of the japan exchange group. the tse has merged with the osaka securities exchange, japan's second largest force. >> reporter: the celebration of

the accident at fukushima provided a good opportunity to change that. >> reporter: japanese prime minister shinzo abe suggested his government may consider reintroducing more nuclear power and even allowing for the construction of new facilities. >> translator: the government will go over what we have learned about the nuclear accident and check the progress of the nuclear safety technology. i'd like to carefully consider whether new plants can be built. it will take a certain amount of time. >> reporter: tanaka says he and his staff need to work without interference. >> translator: the idea to give certain independence to our organization came from the current leading party, even before taking power. so i believe the government will honor our independence. >> reporter: the investigators that looked at the ohi plant had hoped to release their findings this month, but they need more time. some consider their conclusions will be a success for the nuclear regulation authority. people want to know whether the regulators are doing their jobs or acting as a rubber stamp from the government. repo

most nuclear plants in japan are offline for inspection following the mar 11 crisis at the fukushima daiichi. lng prices also stayed high throughout the year, due to stronger demand from emerging countries. another reason for the boost in imports has been a certain reversal in currency markets. the yen began weakening at the end of last year. the yen has continued to weaken and the new prime minister shinzo abe's bold economic policy. this corporation is one of japan's major trading companies. it imports lng from asia and the middle east. they expect imports of lng to be at least as high as last year, but the cost will be much higher as the value of the yen continues to drop. >> translator: we are really getting a triple punch in the shortage of lng supplies, the high price of the gas and the depreciation of the yen. as an energy importing company, we are concerned about what level the exchange rate will settle at because it has a big impact on our import costs. >> reporter: experts think a weaker yen will hurt importers more than it helps exporters. and it may cause a trade deficit

nuclear export, miles pomper, questioned japan's effort to have using nuclear cycling, even after the fukushima accident. >> moving forward with an additional generation of plutonium for these reactors is just not very sensible. >> popper said the risk of a terrorist attack could go up if japan has a large amount of unnecessary plutonium. other participants said japan and the u.s. must maintain their high-level nuclear technology because many developing countries want nuclear power. >>> criminals in japan have raked in a record amount of money using fraud. police say con artists stole about $400 million last year from victims, due in part to more sophisticated technique. these scammers have, in the past, pretended to be family members of their targets. they phone to ask for money and convince their victims to make bank transfers. but in more than half the cases last year, con artists visited their victims at home. they posed as representatives of relatives, and in some cases, walked away with cash. national police agency spokespersons say criminals are also duping people with fake financial pro

. >> officials at tokyo electric power started their work at a new hours in fukushima prefecture. >> translator: we will always keep in mind how disaster victims are suffering. we will do everything we can to help evacuees return home as soon as possible. >> tepco intends to station more than 4,000 employees at the fukushima recovery headquarters. >>> prime minister abe's special envoy conveyed the leader's willingness to improve ties with south korea. the president elect park geun-hye gave a positive response but pointed out the need to face bilateral historic issues. former finance minister fukushiro nukaga met park in seoul. they hope the new governments can build good relations. he handed park a letter from the prime minister expressing the wish. park said south korea and japan need each other in many ways. she said she hopes to work on reconciliation and cooperation while facing issues connected to their related history. >> translator: we confirmed our shared view we should improve ties from a broad perspective even though there are several outstanding bilateral issues. >> south

the accident at fukushima provided a good opportunity to change that. >> reporter: japanese prime minister shinzo abe suggested his government may consider reintroducing more nuclear power and even allowing for the construction of new facilities. >> translator: the government will go over what we have learned about the nuclear accident and check the progress of the nuclear safety technology. i'd like to carefully consider whether new plants can be built. it will take a certain amount of time. >> reporter: tanaka says he and his staff need to work without interference. >> translator: the idea to give certain independence to our organization came from the current leading party, even before taking power. so i believe the government will honor our eindependence. >> reporter: the investigators that looked at the ohi plant had hoped to release their findings this month, but they need more time. some consider their conclusions will be a success for the nuclear regulation authority. people want to know whether the regulators are doing their jobs or acting as a rubber stamp from the government. rep

after the disaster at the fukushima nuclear power plant. the world became much more concerned with nuclear safety germany even decided to phase out its nuclear power facilities long before leading countries including russia would join forces to work on a safer and cleaner sustainable source of energy known as nuclear fusion the project is called i t e r and although one feasible in the beginning the reactor that could finally generate fusion energy is being built.

. >>> japan's nuclear regulators have been wondering how to save the nuclear power that crippled fukushima. authority officials are preparing new filter vents for pourt plants. the vents would reduce pressure in the containment vessel and filter contaminated steam. they worked on them after the tsunami. they are considering a proposal to build stand-alone facilities to cool down its reactors. workers would inject water from a safe distance. the nuclear regulatory body will release a final draft by the end of this month. the proposals will then face a public review. they are to announce the new standards by july. >>> when a massive earthquake hit western japan in january 1995, it killed over 406,400 people. many businesses were unprepared, a bigger quake could have occurred on the west end of japan. they profile two that are taking the warnings seriously. >> last year, he upgraded the damage would be far bigger than previously predicted. they are bracing for the worst. >> translator: its crisis management team has been reexamining its kris rcrisis res plans. >> there is going to be damage f

." >>> japan's nuclear regulators have been wondering how to save the nuclear power that crippled fukushima. they've drafted new standards. authority officials are preparing new filter vents for the plants. the ventwould reduce pressure in the containment vessel and filter contaminated steam. they worked on them after the tsunami. they are considering a proposal to build stand-alone facilities to cool down its reactors. workers would inject water from a safe distance. they will release suggestions by the end of the month. the proposals will then face a public review. they are to announce the new standards by july. >>> when a massive earthquake hit western japan in january 1995, it killed over 406,400 people. many businesses were unprepared, a bigger quake could have occurred on the west end of japan. many companies are busy drawing up contingency plans. they profile two that are taking the warnings seriously. >> last year, he upgraded the damage would be far bigger than previously predicted. they are bracing for the worst. >> translator: its crisis management team has been reexamining its c

have questioned two former executives of tokyo electric power company about the 2011 accident at the fukushima power plant. prosecutors are believed to have asked them what plans tepco made and pressed on the power supplier's prediction of the likelihood of a disaster of that magnitude. they are accusing both the government and tepco management of professional negligent resulting in death and injury. prosecutors are likely to face major challenges pursing their case. legal experts say it could be difficult to hold individuals criminally responsible for the accident. it may be necessary to prove the disaster was predictable and to detail the health impact of the radiation it released. >>> thousands of people waiting to go home. tons of debris waiting for disposal. vast tracts of land waiting to be restored. overcoming the challenges of japan's 2011 disaster won't be easy. but step by step, people are moving forward. find out how on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time, right here on "newsline." >>> thousands of victims of human rights cases are set to receive compensation. t

he also talked about his visit on saturday to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. abe said his government will allocate funds for the disaster-hit areas as quickly as possible. he said he will tighten control of japan's remote islands and strengthen defense of them. chinese ships and aircraft have repeatedly entered japanese waters and air space around the senkaku islands in the east china sea last year. there's one challenge the prime minister won't be able to tackle any time soon. japan's ageing and shrinking population. new government figures show the number of people coming of age in 2012 matched the record low set the year before. people in japan can vote, drink and smoke when they turn 20. a survey by the internal affairs ministry found 1.22 million japanese reached the milestone in 2012. that's the same figure as a year earlier. the lowest since the government began compiling data more than 40 years ago. 20-year-olds now make up less than 1% of the population. the number of people reaching adulthood peaked in 1970. the first post-war baby boomers came of age

is it possible that just now the rebuild is beginning from fukushima? >> well, the initial rebuild from fukushima was temporary housing, modular, very little wood frame housing. but the immediate need was for emergency shelter. and the problem with the tsunami was that it hit some rural areas. they had major infrastructure to rebuild. some of those places they probably won't be able to rebuild. but we are starting to see some resurgence in japan. you know, our exports are up not just because of the impact of the earthquake and tsunami but we're starting to see some government stimulus in japan now in order to help pull them out of a recession, and then there's also a new tax change that's being put in place in roughly 2014. so there's some additional spending taking place there. but i think that the rebuilding that's taking place today as you comment is very different from what took place after the kobe earthquake. >> i've got to tell you, dan, this is the best i've seen your company. you've got the real estate trust structure. thank you so much. it's p

he also talked about his visit on saturday to the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant. abe said his government will allocate funds for the disaster-hit areas as quickly as possible. he said he will tighten control of japan's remote islands and strengthen defense of them. chinese ships and aircraft have repeatedly entered japanese waters and air space around the senkaku islands in the east china sea last year. there's one challenge the prime minister won't be able to tackle any time soon. japan's ageing and shrinking population. new government figures show the number of people coming of age in 2012 matched the record low set the year before. people in japan can vote, drink and smoke when they turn 20. a survey by the internal affairs ministry found 1.22 million japanese reached the milestone in 2012. that's the same figure as a year earlier. the lowest since the government began compiling data more than 40 years ago. 20-year-olds now make up less than 1% of the population. the number of people reaching adulthood peaked in 1970. the first post-war baby boomers came of age

ideal for that extremely compact dosimeter and you just saw was spurred on by the nuclear disaster in fukushima japan while the immediate threats to those in the vicinity were clear right away the experience has left many people concerned about extraordinary and every day radiation. looking for a way to give people more peace of mind this moscow based innovator got to work designing his own smartphone powered dosimeter the device can help people better understand the risks that simply aren't visible for example the paint used in this old compass still emits radioactive particles that are easily measurable but the right equipment. right now we already have a whole line of software products and devices for various smartphones. cell phones laptops books with varying levels of complexity on the market from simpler and less expensive models to more sophisticated versions. but of course the idea of checking radiation levels is far from a new one ever since people understood the risk of radioactivity there's been the trusty but often cumbersome a geiger counter to measure it the device is characterist

and failed to give the media sufficient access to information following the 2011 nuclear accident in fukushima. reporters without borders spokes persons say japan's fall from it's normally high ranking should serve as warning. the survey says media in finland enjoyed the most freedom followed by other european nations such as netherlands and norway. myanmar rose 18 places to 151st. it abolished censorship in 2012. china remained unchanged. north korea remained second last at 178th. atrea remains last. >>> judo federationoi apologize for their actions. there was a written complaint about coaches slapping them in face and used forms of other abuse at a training camp before last year's london olympics. the all japan judo federation senior director admitted the allegations a allegations and apologized. he saeded the federation reprimanded the head coach. the fed regulate said he was involved in a total of five violent incidents from august of 2010 to february 2012. it says he admitted to hitting athletes to failed to follow his instructions and jabbing them with a stick. he reportedly said he did

demand for lng has bn rising in japan since the nuclear accident in fukushima. that's because it's the main fuel used for thermal power generation. >>> let's get a check on market prices now. tokyo stock prices are trading higher. an overnight rise in new york is raising expectations for a u.s. economic recovery. the nikkei average at 10,952 at the moment, up .8%. many investors are buying export-related shares. they're anticipating a further decline in the yen against other currencies. well, let's take a look. on the tokyo foreign exchange the dollar is moving in a narrow range against the yen. many market players are waiting for the outcome of the u.s. fed policy meeting later in the day. now, the pair is changing hands at 90.84-87. the euro, meanwhile, is trading higher against other currencies. market participants say that's because worries over euro debt issues are receding somewhat. the euro/yen, 122.51-56 at mont. and in other asian markets we are seeing a loss of over .1% on the kospi. 1,952 over in seoul. let's see what's happening in australia. the ben

researchers in northeastern japan are giving health checks to hundreds of young people from a town near fukushima daiichi. they're trying to estimate how much radiation the residents were exposed to in the early days after the 2011 accident at the nuclear plant. they are happening inside this building. the people getting examined don't want their identities to be revealed. they are from naime. many residents went to areas northwest of the town after the accident, without knowing radiation levels there were high. they convinced municipal officials to offer tests for people 18 years or younger at the time. around 850 children, or about a quarter of those eligible, want to be examined. researchers will collect blood to look for changes in chromosomes. >> translator: we will do our best to notify the examinees of the results as soon as possible to relieve their concerns. >> the operators of japan's power plants are bracing for a new set of rules. nuclear regulation officials have drafted new safety standards for protecting against an earthquake and tsunami. the guidelines finalized and passed into la