EDF Shares Drop After Anomalies Found in Nuclear Reactor Components
10 Septembre 2019 - 11:04AM
Dow Jones News
By Olivia Bugault and Max Bernhard
French utility Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR) shares plunged
on Tuesday morning after its majority-owned business Framatome
found anomalies in its manufacturing of nuclear-reactor
components.
At 0816 GMT, shares in EDF were down almost 6.6% at 10.14 euros
($11.18), the biggest loser on France's SBF 120 index.
EDF said the anomalies concern components that are currently in
service as well as ones which haven't yet been installed, and that
it has been conducting in-depth investigations to identify affected
parts and reactors and to "ascertain their fitness for
service."
An EDF spokesman declined to provide the names of the plants
impacted by the anomalies. The shut down of a nuclear reactor is an
option but not the preferred one, he said.
EDF, which is largely owned by the French state, said it
informed France's nuclear regulatory authority of its initial
investigations on Monday.
The company has had problems with a number of its nuclear
reactors recently. Last year, it suspended operations at its
Hunterston B plant in the U.K. after engineers discovered cracks in
some of the reactors' graphite cores. The plant was approved to
restart operations last month. In July, EDF pushed back the planned
completion date for a nuclear plant in Flamanville in the north of
France by another three years after finding problems with the welds
inside the reactor. The plant was initially due for completion in
2012.
Write to Olivia Bugault at olivia.bugault@dowjones.com and Max
Bernhard at max.bernhard@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 10, 2019 04:49 ET (08:49 GMT)
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