Smoke hinders work at nuke plant

OSAKA, Japan - Smoke again disrupted efforts on Wednesday to regain control of a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant, where engineers were close to restoring a water pump at one of the reactors.

Workers were pulled back after a plume of dark smoke rose from the No 3 reactor unit, one of the worst hit by the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and towering tsunami which battered northeast Japan on March 11.

Firefighters dousing the reactors to prevent overheating were also forced to evacuate from part of the troubled Fukushima No 1 plant, located 240 km northeast of Tokyo.