WORKERS discovered new pools of radioactive water leaking from Japan’s crippled nuclear complex as emergency crews struggled to pump out hundreds of tonnes of contaminated water and bring the plant back under control.

Officials are racing to restore electricity to Japan’s leaking nuclear plant, but getting the power flowing will hardly be the end of their battle: with its mangled machinery and partly melted reactor cores, bringing the complex under control is a monstrous job.

Japanese government officials say there was shaking and a trail of white smoke at the nuclear plant in the area devastated by a massive earthquake.