Tokyo Electric Power Co., Asia's largest utility, said smoke was detected at a generator powering a radiation-monitoring system at its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear complex.

Local fire fighters confirmed the smoke stopped at 11:26 a.m. local time after the utility shut down the generator, Tokyo Electric said in a statement on its Web site. No injuries or radiation leaks occurred during the incident, the company said.

The power producer has increased dependence on oil, natural gas and coal-fired thermal generation to offset the loss of output from the nuclear plant in the northern prefecture of Niigata, after an earthquake forced its closure in July 2007.