Fire Breaks Out At Fukushima Reactor 4

Time to upgrade Fukushima from 7 to 7¼? From Reuters: “A fire broke out at Japan’s crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, operator Tokyo Electric and Power (TEPCO) said on Tuesday, although flames and smoke were no longer visible. A worker saw fire at a building near the No.4 reactor at around 6:38 a.m. (21:38 GMT) and a fire fighting unit of the Self Defence Forces was sent to fight the blaze, a TEPCO spokesman said. “Flames and smoke are no longer visible but we are awaiting further details regarding whether the fire has been extinguished completely,” he said. Japan has been battling to bring under control the plant damaged severely by last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.”

Update: TEPCO says fire out at battery storage bldg near Fukushim-1 reactors 1-4. No effect to reactors, water cooling continues. Then again this does come from TEPCO where every day is opposite day.

And an update from Kyodo, which surprisingly has yet another version of (sur)reality.

A fire broke out at the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear plant in northeastern Japan Tuesday morning, but was soon extinguished, the plant operator said.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said the fire occurred at the sampling building near a water outlet at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant’s No.4 reactor and was spotted by a worker.

There was no change in the levels of radiation around the reactor, the utility known as TEPCO added.

The nuclear plant was crippled after a mega quake and tsunami hit northeastern Japan on March 11.

Watch the latest from NHK here.