Smoke at Japan's Fukushima Plant Causes Workers Evacuation

Emergency services resumed spraying water at the number three reactor using specially equipped fire trucks and say they are stepping up the dousing, aiming for round-the-clock operations. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Some workers have been temporarily evacuated from the Fukushima nuclear plant in earthquake-hit Japan after gray smoke rose from reactor three, the plant operator TEPCO said.

The news was announced after TEPCO confirmed power cables had been connected to all six reactors of the plant, ABC News reported on Monday.

"Due to this problem, the operator temporarily pulled out the workers, while checking on the condition of the site," a spokesman said.

Earlier on Monday, it was reported that the pressure inr eactor three was going up and experts were debating releasing it by opening the valves.

According to company officials, the two most badly damaged units of the plant, reactors three and four, are to be hooked up to power from the main grid later on Monday.

In the meantime, the company is checking for damage to the plant's reactor cooling system and other plant machinery before attempting to hook them up to power.

The cooling systems have been designed to protect the six reactors of Fukushima from a potentially disastrous meltdown. They were knocked out by the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11, and engineers have been trying to rise the temperatures ever since.

According to the Japanese PM Naoto Kan, the country was making "slow but steady progress" in dealing with the crisis at Fukushima.

"Workers' efforts at the risk of their lives have made the situation progress little by little," he said earlier.

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