From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

In Japan, the dangers of radiation. In Libya, the prospects for intervention.

Hello again, I'm Arnon-Aulny, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Two very different crises have captured the world's attention,

the likelihood of nuclear meltdowns at a power plant in Japan, and bloody fighting in Libya.

Amid desperate efforts to cool down reactors and spent fuel pools,

the U.S. and Japan have different assessments of radiation releases.

As Colonel Gaddafi's forces get closer to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, the U.S. is now

backing international intervention, but the Security Council has yet to agree. Today, we'll hear

from reporters traveling in northern Japan and from Libya, and we'll hear different opinions

about the wisdom of intervention.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warren Alney. Back with To the Point. Military and police forces. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again, Warren. I'll

back with To the Point. Military and police forces have used water-dropping helicopters and water

cannons in a desperate effort to cool down the spent fuel rods now exposed to the air at Japan's

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Complex. We'll get an update in just a moment. On an extended

reporter's notebook, the U.S. now backs international intervention in Gaddafi's Libya, but the debate goes on. We'll hear about that and what's happening on the ground. First, this news update. U.S. and Japanese officials have different assessments of how much radiation is spewing into the air from Japan's damaged reactors and spent fuel pools. Both the Pentagon and the Nuclear Regulatory

Commission are sending experts into the area. Matt Wald reports on energy for the New York Times,

...