By William Horobin
PARIS--French utility company GDF Suez's (GSZ.FR) Belgian
subsidiary Electrabel said Friday it will extend the shutdown of
power nuclear plants Doel 3 and Tihange 2 after a review by
regulators.
The two plants will be offline until July 2015 instead of the
end of winter, as previously indicated.
This isn't the first shutdown for the power plants. The two
reactors--Doel 3 and Tihange 2--were closed in the spring of 2014
by the Belgian authorities following tests on the reactors'
pressure vessels that showed "unexpected results" regarding their
resistance. Both reactors had already been shut in 2012 after
micro-cracks were found on their pressure vessels, which enclose
the reactor cores.
In July, GDF Suez said the extension of the closure of the
reactors would cost the company around 40 million euros ($45.5
million) a month in recurring net profit over the second half of
the year.
Electrabel said the extension of the closure comes after the
company drew up an action plan to respond to questions and
recommendations from authorities.
Write to William Horobin at william.horobin@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires