Japanese Nuclear Power Station Shut Down

Friday, December 13, 2002 TSURUGA - A nuclear reactor at Tsuruga Nuclear Power Station in Fukui Prefecture was shut down Thursday night after a fire repeatedly broke out from a turbine cover, the plant operator for the Japan Atomic Power Co said Friday.

There were no injuries and no danger of radiation leaks after the accident. The fire was soon brought under control, plant officials said.

According to officials of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, there was no sign of radiation leakage into the environment and there are no safety concerns for the reactor itself.

But there appears to be no precedent for manually shutting down a reactor because of a fire in the turbine area, they said.

Officials of Japan Atomic Power and local fire department started investigating the cause of the fire Friday by interviewing the plant's employees and conducting an on-site inspection.

The fire broke out from a heat insulating cover on the No. 2 reactor's high-pressure turbine at around 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the plant in Tsuruga. It was temporarily extinguished but broke out again, prompting officials to manually shut down the reactor at 9 p.m. The fire then re-ignited briefly at around 10 p.m. Thursday and 12:30 a.m. Friday, officials said.

Plant workers noticed smoke coming from a turbine as they cleaned up some spilled oil, the company said. After removing the turbine casing cover, the fire erupted and was put out.

"The cause appeared to be from the leaked oil, but we have not discovered why the oil leaked yet," said company spokesman Yasuo Yanagihara. The oil is meant to lubricate the movement of the turbine and prevent friction with the casing cover.

Japan Atomic Power officials said operators of the reactor found lubricants spilled out from the axis of the turbine Thursday afternoon and the first fire broke out when employees were trying to remove the cover of the turbine for inspection.

According to nuclear energy experts at the Fukui prefectural government, the turbine is fed with 280 C steam. The insulators in the turbine cover were made of fiberglass bags filled with asbestos, the officials said. (Kyodo News)

Construction on Unit No. 2 of the Tsuruga Power Station began in April 1982, and the facility entered commercial service in February 1987, about four months ahead of schedule. Electricity produced at the facility is supplied for industrial, commercial and residential use throughout Japan.