New fire breaks out at Fukushima plant

A new fire has broken out at the No4 reactor unit at Japan’s stricken Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Co spokesman Hajimi Motujuku says the blaze erupted in the outer housing of the reactor’s containment vessel.

Firefighters are trying to put out the flames.

Japan’s nuclear safety agency also confirmed the fire, whose cause was not immediately known.

Earlier, a fire broke out in the reactor’s fuel storage pond – an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool – causing radioactivity to be released into the atmosphere.

Officials are struggling to address the failure of safety systems at several of the plant’s reactors after Friday’s massive earthquake and tsunami.