Shares in EDF have fallen 8 per cent after the French utility company said it had found faults in the piping at one of its nuclear power plants, causing it to close four reactors that use the technology while it investigates the problem.
The closure of these reactors will lead to a loss of about 1 TerraWatt hours by the end of 2021, the company said on Wednesday evening, adding that it had revised its estimate of earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to a range of €17.5bn to €18bn, against the previous target of more than €17.7bn.
The problem adds to the existing array of setbacks EDF has faced in its nuclear power division, including cost overruns and delays.
Problems were found at a reactor at the company’s Civaux plant, in the Vienne department of France, during maintenance checks undertaken once every 10 years. The French nuclear safety authority, the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, was informed about the faults and four nuclear reactors have been closed, including two at Civaux and two at a nuclear site in Chooz, on the Belgian border, which used the same technology.
EDF did not say how long the plants would be closed for.
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