WORKERS FLEE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT IN JAPAN

From the Los Angeles Times

                                 Smoke rises from reactor number three of the number one Fukushima

                                 Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. Fears that the plume may be radioactive 

                                 interrupted work on the reactors

Smoke rising from two of the reactors in the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan caused alarm and abruptly halted efforts to restore power to reactors Monday afternoon.

Workers from the Tokyo Electric Power Company were evacuated midafternoon after dark-colored smoke was seen rising from reactor No. 3 above a pool storing spent nuclear rods, Kyodo News Agency reported. A few hours later, a white plume was also seen rising through a crack in the roof of the building containing reactor No. 2, according to reports.

The smoke had stopped by evening. Power company officials told local reporters that the plume from reactor No. 2 appeared to be steam.

The cause of the plumes was unknown, but they did not appear to be associated with a radiation spike.

Still, officials said the interruption would delay the work to restore power to the cooling systems at the plant by a day. The smoke also caused fire officials to halt the spraying of water onto the reactors. The power company and government officials said the efforts to connect the reactors to a power source and cool them would likely resume Tuesday, according to Kyodo News Agency.

It's going to be along hard slog to get this situation under control.  Some people are under the mistaken impression that since they hooked up a power line to the plant that everything is fine, but thats not really the case.