UPDATE There’s smoke coming out of reactor 3 / The personnel at Fukushima was evacuated

The situation at the Fukushima nuclear plant is improving steadily but surely, Japanese PM Naoto Kan announced on Monday, quoted by Kyodo news agency.

UPDATE 10:10 AM At local time 15:55 (06:55 GMT) I received a report from the plant indicating that grey smoke is coming out through the roof of reactor 3. I have orders to evacuate any personnel, an official of TEPCO, the operator of the plant announced.

Reactor 3 suffered significant damages after the quake and the tsunami waves on March 11. The roof of the building was destroyed by a powerful explosion last week caused by an accumulation of hydrogen. Reactor 3 raises most worries since it contains MOX fuel, a mix of plutonium and uranium.

UPDATE 10 AM There is smoke coming out of reactor 3, TEPCO, the plant’s operator informed. All six reactors of the nuclear plant are connected at electricity. The last two reactors connected were reactors 3 and 4 which were most damaged after the quake.

UPDATE 9:30 AM The death and missing toll following the disaster on March 11th rises to 21,000 the recent toll set up by national police reads, quoted by Reuters.