EDF Energy says plans in place to maintain operations at UK nuclear plants

By Nina Chestney

LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - EDF Energy has plans in place to maintain operations at its nuclear power plants in Britain during the coronavirus outbreak, it told Reuters on Tuesday.

The company operates all 15 nuclear reactors in Britain. Currently, eight of those with a combined capacity of around 4.2 gigawatts - almost half of the country's total nuclear power capacity - are offline for planned or unplanned outages.

"We have comprehensive plans in place to maintain operations at all of our power stations and planned generation is not affected at any of our sites," said a spokeswoman, declining to specify what the measures were.

On Monday, EDF Energy's parent company EDF said it would reduce staff at its Flamanville nuclear power plant in northern France due to coronavirus infections in the Cotentin region. The plant has been offline for maintenance.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Editing by Pravin Char)