A Japanese volcano about 50 km from a nuclear plant erupted today, Friday, shooting ash nearly 2 km into the night sky along with fountains of lava, but there were no immediate reports of damage and operations at the power station were not affected.

 

Following what they termed an "explosive eruption," Japan's Meteorological Agency raised the warning level on the peak, which experiences hundreds of small eruptions a year, to 3, meaning that people should not approach the mountain.

 

The Sendai nuclear power station, run by Kyushu Electric Power and located on the same island, resumed operations last year after being shut down, along with all of Japan's nuclear plants, after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

 

Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire" - a seismically active horsehoe-shaped band of fault lines and volcanoes around the edges of the Pacific Ocean - and has more than 100 active volcanoes.