A former crew member of a Japanese fishing boat exposed to the nuclear fallout from a 1954 US nuclear test in the Pacific has died.

Masaho Ikeda died of stomach cancer in a hospital in Fujieda City in Shizuoka Prefecture on Thursday. He was 87 years old. His relatives say he had also suffered esophagus and liver cancer.

The head of Japan's nuclear watchdog has stressed that the screening of a reactor at the Ikata nuclear plant in western Japan was carried out appropriately.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Chairman Toyoshi Fuketa of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, or NRA, commented on a court ruling that ordered the suspension of the No.3 reactor.

The operator of the Ikata nuclear power plant in western Japan says that during maintenance of its No.3 reactor, a warning signal was emitted indicating trouble involving a fuel unit. But it added that no radioactive materials were released.

Shikoku Electric Power Company said workers were checking fuel units stored in a pool of the reactor in Ehime Prefecture on Monday when they received a signal that a fuel unit had accidentally fallen from a lift.

A Japanese high court has ordered the suspension of a nuclear reactor in western Japan after local residents filed for an injunction over safety concerns.

The Hiroshima High Court issued the injunction on Friday afternoon for the No.3 reactor at the Ikata nuclear power plant in Ehime Prefecture. The plant is operated by Shikoku Electric Power Company.

A high court in western Japan has ordered a power utility to suspend operations at a nuclear reactor in Ehime Prefecture after residents raised safety concerns.