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Nuclear Crisis Deepens In Japan

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A child is screened for radiation exposure at a testing center in Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (AP)
A child is screened for radiation exposure at a testing center in Koriyama city, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (AP)

Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly earthquake and tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy.

We speak with Frank von Hippel, physicist and professor at Princeton.

This segment aired on March 15, 2011.

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