GDF Suez's Electrabel Extends Closure of Belgian Reactors

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.

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