A fire broke out Thursday for an eighth time at a Japanese nuclear reactor since it was closed by a 2007 earthquake, but the blaze was put out and no radiation escaped, its operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said. The fire was in an underground pump used to cool reactor number one at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in the north-western prefecture of Niigata, the fire department said.
It was caused by a solvent used by a worker who received burns to his face, it added. His was the only injury. The fire was extinguished in 30 minutes. The worlds largest nuclear power plant was damaged in a magnitude-6.8 earthquake on July 16, 2007, which killed 11 people and injured 2,000. A small amount of radiation-tainted water leaked into the sea as a result.
The latest fire at the plant occurred as Tokyo Electric Power seeks to receive final approvals from authorities to restart a part of the reactor. Last month, nuclear regulators gave the company the green light to conduct test runs of reactor number seven. Vice Trade and Industry Minister Harufumi Mochizuki said it was "regrettable" that another fire had broken out at the complex, but he said it would not effect the approval process for the restart of reactor number seven.
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