July 22 (Bloomberg) -- 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.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shigeru Sato in Tokyo at ssato10@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 22, 2008 02:51 EDT