EDF Shuts Down Nuclear Reactors on Safety Concerns; Revises 2021 Target

   By Joshua Kirby

Electricite de France SA’s 2021 earnings could take a slight hit from the temporary closure of reactors at two nuclear plants on safety grounds, the French energy company said late Wednesday.

Faults were detected on both reactors during routine safety checks at EDF’s Civaux plant in France’s southwestern Vienne department, EDF said. The faults related to pipes on the safety injection system circuit, it said. The company and the country’s nuclear safety agency, the ASN, have decided to replace the affected parts on the two reactors, meaning their shutdown will be extended.

EDF has also decided to shut down the two reactors at another nuclear plant at Chooz in the northeastern Ardennes department to check them for similar issues, since they use the same technology as those at Civaux. One will be shut down Thursday and the other Saturday, EDF said.

The two plants’ four reactors together form the N4 series of the French nuclear fleet, EDF said. The checks and solutions are being carried out in close cooperation with the ASN, the company said.

Around 1 terawatt-hour of output will be lost from the outages, meaning EDF now sees full-year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization in a range of 17.5 billion euros-EUR18 billion ($19.8 billion-$20.3 billion), based on current market prices. It had previously guided for Ebitda of more than EUR17.7 billion.

Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 16, 2021 02:07 ET (07:07 GMT)