Japanese race to avert nuclear catastrophe

Workers try everything to cool the crippled reactor, but their effectiveness is unclear.

YAMAGATA, Japan – Japan's nuclear safety agency says smoke is rising from a building housing a damaged nuclear reactor at a power plant crippled by last week's tsunami.
A spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency said the smoke was seen rising from Unit 2 at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant on Friday morning. The spokesman says the agency does not know the cause, but an explosion occurred in Unit 2 earlier in the week, possibly damaging a chamber next to the reactor core.
Meanwhile, the utility that runs the nuclear plant says workers are laying a cable to restore power to the cooling systems. The military is also preparing to spray more water on the plant by helicopter and fire trucks.