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

Japan's ongoing disaster and the future of nuclear power.

Hello again, I'm Armin Alney, and this is To the Poet from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

The extent of the damage at Fukushima is still unclear, and nobody knows how much radiation has been released or how much more will be. But the ongoing crisis has renewed debate

about the safety of nuclear power just as the U.S. is beginning to build new reactors. Safety is

not the only concern.

Due to construction cost, liability, and nervous investors,

the industry demands government loan guarantees.

Should nuclear power be expanded to fuel President Obama's green economy?

Is it still too early to tell?

On reporter's notebook later on, General David Petraeus tells Congress about the war in Afghanistan.

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,

Mormon Alney, back with To the Point. At 11 o'clock this morning, Prime Minister Naoto Khan warned his people there was a very high risk of further radiation leakage from the damaged nuclear

complex at Fukushima. By midnight, there were reports that radiation levels were down.

We'll look at the consequences of Japan's ongoing disaster

for nuclear power in the U.S. and elsewhere. On reporter's notebook, after 10 years of combat, a

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