The Gary Null Blog

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/03/21-4

Published on Monday, March 21, 2011 by The Guardian/UK

World Bank says economy will take years to recover • Officials update casualty estimates • Fukushima plant electricity restored

by Justin McCurry in Osaka

The human and financial cost of the tsunami continues to rise, after police estimates showed more than 18,000 people have died in the disaster and the World Bank said it may cost Japan as much as £145bn to repair the damage.

The figures came as emergency workers were evacuated from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after smoke or steam was seen rising from one of its reactor units.

The smoke raised concerns that water in the spent fuel pools at the No 3 unit was running low, but officials said there was no immediate spike in radiation levels.

"We are checking the cause of the smoke," Hidehiko Nishiyama, a nuclear safety agency official, told reporters.

Earlier, engineers finally succeeded in connecting power cables to three of the plant's reactors and said they planned to test the pumps soon.

Engineers hope to connect those power supplies to the No 3 and No 4 units on Tuesday, the public broadcaster NHK said.