TOKYO - A fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in western Japan on Wednesday, but operator Kansai Electric Power Co. said there was no radioactive leak.
A company spokesman said a fire broke out in a waste disposal facility at the No. 3 and No. 4 nuclear generation units of the Oi plant in Fukui prefecture, 380 km (235 miles) west of Tokyo.
It was extinguished about four hours later, Kyodo news agency said. Two workers were treated in hospital after inhaling smoke.
A prefecture official said the disposal plant contained some radioactive waste but that it was extremely low level.
"There was no impact on the environment and we have verified that the employees did not come in contact with unusual radiation," the official said.
The generation units were unaffected by the fire and were operating normally, the Kansai Electric spokesman said. Each has a capacity to generate 1.18 million kilowatts of electricity.
In August 2004, hot water and steam leaking from a broken pipe at Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Mihama No. 3 nuclear power generator killed five workers in Japan's worst-ever nuclear power plant accident. (Additional reporting by Ted Kerr and Ikuko Kao)
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
