Fire Breaks Out at Japanese Nuclear Plant

Paraphrased by:
Steve Waldrop
February 25, 2004

Tokyo- A fire broke out on the roof of a Japanese nuclear facility that was shut down for regular inspections, a spokesman for the plant's operator said.

No injuries were reported and no radiation was released in the accident , said Shigehisa Osawa, a spokesman for Chubu Electric Power Co.

The plant in the central town of Hamaoka had been shut down earlier in the day for regular inspections when the fire was reported on the roof of its electricity-generating turbine room, which is separate from the nuclear reactor, Osawa said. Hamaoka is about 100 mules southwest of Tokyo.

Firefighters were called and extinguished the blaze in less than an hour.

A rubber waterproofing wall was believed to have caught fire when hydrogen gas used to cool the turbine escaped from a roof duct, the Kyodo New agency quoted firefighters as saying. Plant workers had been removing the coolant form the turbine as part of their inspection, the report said.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.