Explosion reported at thermal power plant in central Japan

An explosion occurred Wednesday at a thermal power plant in Aichi Prefecture, according to police and other sources.

The blast took place at around 3 p.m. at the Taketoyo plant run by Jera, a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings and Chubu Electric Power.

Black smoke was coming from the thermal power plant’s boiler facility, and the coal conveyor next to it was also on fire, public broadcaster NHK reported.

According to firefighters, the explosion is believed to have occurred on the 13th floor of the power plant.

No one was injured in the incident, police said.

The Taketoyo plant is located about 40 kilometers south of Nagoya, with a generation capacity of 1,070 megawatts, among the largest in Japan in terms of single unit output, according to Jera’s website.