British Energy cuts nuke 04

British Energy cuts nuke 04-05 output target by 2.5TWh to 64.5TWh

London (Platts)--19Mar2004

Troubled UK generator British Energy cut its 2004-05 nuclear power plant output target by 2.5TWh to 64.5TWh on Friday. The company cut the target after calculating the amount of outage work required to carry out cast iron pipe replacement at some of its plants in 2004/05. The review of the replacement schedule followed the unplanned outage at BE's Heysham-1 nuclear power plant that lasted from late October 2003 until mid-February. The cost of the replacement work will be absorbed within BE's normal plant expenditure plans, it said. At its interim results on Feb 26, BE said its refurbishment programs were unlikely to have a material effect on the level of capital and revenue expenditure in the current year, however, BE said Friday it would undertake further analysis on whether the levels of investment arising from these programs would be greater in future years than expected in its previous business plan. BE expects to give a further update on progress at its preliminary results after its year-end on Mar 31.