Japan's new bid to ease nuclear crisis

The operator of Japan's crippled nuclear plant began pumping highly radioactive water from the basement of one of its buildings to a makeshift storage area yesterday in a crucial step toward easing the nuclear crisis.

Removing about 6.6 million gallons of contaminated water that has collected in the basement of a turbine building at Unit 2 of the Fukushima Daiichi plant will help allow access for Tepco workers who are trying to restore vital cooling systems that were knocked out in the 11 March tsunami.