Sixth suspicious fire at Tomari unit

[Kyodo News, 7 and 9 August; Associated Press, 24 July] Japanese police are investigating a series of suspicious fires at unit 3 of Hokkaido Electric Power Co's Tomari nuclear power plant. Six such fires at the unit, which is under construction, have occurred since the beginning of July. On 9 August, scorched remains of toilet paper were found inside a bathroom on the second floor of a construction-related office outside the reactor building. Just two days earlier, the scorched remains of toilet paper were discovered inside a temporary bathroom in a residential facility for workers outside the reactor building. There was another small fire at the unit, again outside the reactor building, on 24 July. The previous day there had been a small fire inside the reactor building and investigators later discovered damage to electrical wiring. Small fires also occurred at the unit on 4 and 11 July. The fires have caused minor delays to construction work. Hokkaido Electric stressed that in all the incidents there were no injuries and no danger of a radiation leak. The company said that Tomari units 1 and 2 have continued to operating as usual.

Further information

Hokkaido Electric Power