Tokyo – The operator of a crippled nuclear power station said Friday its plant's desalination device stopped temporarily due to a magnitude-6 earthquake that struck north-eastern Japan.
The device, part of the system to clean up highly radioactive water used to cool damaged reactors at the plant, saw its heat generator run down automatically due to the quake, Jiji Press reported.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), which runs the plant, said it restarted the device about 20 minutes later as no abnormalities were detected, Jiji reported.
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station has spewed radioactive material since it was hit by a magnitude-9 quake and tsunami on March 11.
Friday's quake jolted the region at 3:32 am (1832 GMT Thursday) with its epicentre off Fukushima prefecture at a depth of 50 kilometres, the Meteorological Agency said.
TEPCO also found a decrease in the amount of water injected into a reactor to cool it while another problem was a breakdown of the equipment to adjust the amounts of nitrogen gas injected to reduce the risk of hydrogen explosions, Jiji reported.
TEPCO said the problems had already been fixed.
Two people were injured in Fukushima prefecture due to the quake, local media reported. No tsunami warning was issued.
