TOKYO — Engineers resumed work Thursday to restore power and cooling systems at Japan’s Fukushima No.3 nuclear reactor following a stoppage Wednesday when black smoke was spotted, Kyodo News reported.
The cause of the smoke is not known but no fire was seen and officials confirmed the smoke had disappeared early Thursday. They said the radiation level at the site had not climbed during the time the smoke was visible.
All six reactors at the stricken plant, located 155 miles (250km) northeast of Tokyo, were reconnected to external power Tuesday night and workers are racing to check each piece of equipment before transmitting power to them.
Work was suspended at No. 2 Wednesday after overly high radiation levels were detected.
Broadcaster NHK said white steam could be was seen rising from four of the six reactors on Thursday, the first time steam has been seen coming out of the No.1 reactor since the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami which battered northeast Japan on March 11.
The government declared an exclusion zone with a radius of 12 miles (20km) around the power station and evacuated tens of thousands of people as the situation continued to escalate.
Fears that the nuclear crisis was broadening into a major public health issue worsened Wednesday when Japanese authorities said they found radioactivity in Tokyo tap water at a level potentially harmful long-term to infants.
On Thursday, the Tokyo Metropolitan government announced it would distribute mineral water to families with infants and called on residents to refrain from giving the tap water to infants under the age of 12 months.
Meanwhile Australia became the latest country to block imports of food from prefectures around Fukushima, following similar moves by the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.
A grim backdrop to the radiation fears is the continuing rise in the official dead and missing toll from the disaster. According to a National Police Agency update late Wednesday the figure stood at more than 25,000 — including 9,523 people confirmed dead and reports of 16,094 people missing.
Most of the dead and missing are from the three hardest hit prefectures of Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima.
Emergency shelters are already accommodating more than 200,000 people, according to NHK figures, with at least 18,000 houses destroyed and more than 130,000 homes damaged in the quake and tsunami.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon signed a condolence book Wednesday to commemorate the victims.
He wrote: ”On behalf of the United Nations, I extend my most profound condolences to the people and government, and in particular families of victims.
”This is a time of crisis. However, I am confident that with the strong, resilient determination of Japanese people, you will overcome this crisis and rebuild a better Japan for all.”
Another strong quake jolted the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo on Thursday morning, registering a preliminary magnitude of 4.9, according to Kyodo. No tsunami warning was issued following the 8:56am tremor.
Japanese shares were volatile early Thursday, with trading houses and some resource shares higher on recent strength in commodity prices, but with weak auto stocks limiting gains on concern about parts shortages and other production hits, MarketWatch reported.