Nippon Steel Corp. said Friday it is not sure when it can resume full production at its Nagoya plant, which closed after a gas tank explosion earlier this week.
Japan's biggest steelmaker has restarted three electric-powered cold-rolling mills at the plant, which is located in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture. Facilities, including a blast furnace, that are powered by recycled gas, remain shut.
"We don't know exactly when we can get things up and running again," spokesman Hiroshi Nakashima said. "Our cold-rolling mills are working, but as long as we can't produce crude steel, it doesn't help very much."