Fresh fire at Japan nuclear reactor: operator

Four fuel storage pools at Japan’s tsunami-damaged nuclear plant have been without fresh cooling water for nearly 20 hours due to a power outage, the plant’s operator said Tuesday, raising concerns about the fragility of a facility that still runs on makeshift equipment. Tokyo Electric Power Co. said that pool temperatures at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant were well within safe levels, and that pools would remain safe for at least four days without fresh cooling water. The utility said the reactors were unaffected and no other abnormalities were found.

The clean-up at Fukushima after its tsunami-sparked nuclear meltdowns is unlike anything humanity has ever undertaken, Japan's prime minister said on Saturday during a tour of the plant.

A cloud of white smoke was rising Wednesday above a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear power plant, live TV footage showed.The cause of the smoke, at the Fukushima No. 1 plant 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, was not immediately known.A fire broke out early Wednesday at the number-four reactor there but was said to have been extinguished later.Engineers have been grappling with a nuclear emergency since last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami cut power to the plant and caused reactor fuel rods to heat up dangerously.

A cloud of white smoke was rising Wednesday above a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear power plant, live TV footage showed.The cause of the smoke, at the Fukushima No. 1 plant 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of Tokyo, was not immediately known.A fire broke out early Wednesday at the number-four reactor there but was said to have been extinguished later.Engineers have been grappling with a nuclear emergency since last Friday's massive earthquake and tsunami cut power to the plant and caused reactor fuel rods to heat up dangerously.

Workers entered a reactor building at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant Thursday for the first time since an explosion hit the facility a day after the March 11 tsunami and quake, officials said.Wearing gas masks and protective suits with oxygen tanks on their backs, two workers stepped into the building to gauge radiation levels, said officials from operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO).

The operator of Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear plant said Sunday it aims to reduce radiation leaks within three months and to achieve a "cold shutdown" within six to nine months.Japan's embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) offered the timeline in a press conference more than five weeks after a giant quake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems at its six-reactor Fukushima nuclear power station.