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EDF says new anomalies found in Creusot documentation, no safety risk

(Adds detail on nuclear output target, Creusot documentation)

PARIS, Aug 24 (Reuters) - EDF (Paris: FR0010242511 - news) said it had detected new anomalies in tracking documentation of nuclear plant components manufactured by Areva (LSE: 0P4A.L - news) -owned foundry Creusot Forge, but they did not pose a safety risk.

EDF's share price had briefly slipped on Wednesday after Platts reported that the utility had disclosed to French nuclear regulator ASN previously unknown deviations in documentation for Creusot Forge-made nuclear components at EDF (Swiss: EDF.SW - news) nuclear reactors.

Creusot Forge stopped production last year following the discovery of manufacturing flaws as well as the falsification of manufacturing tracking documentation, and is still closed.

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EDF said it had highlighted its latest findings in reports it filed recently to ASN. Its statement came after the regulator on Wednesday confirmed the Platts report.

"These files highlight new deviations identified in the manufacturing documentation," EDF said.

The utility, which also confirmed its 2017 French nuclear output target of 390-400 terawatthours, said the new anomalies had been discovered during an ongoing review of all 58 of its nuclear reactors. It said the reports sent to ASN so far covered nine reactors.

ASN has ordered EDF to review all Creusot-related documents by the end of 2018.

EDF has already verified the manufacturing documentation of so-called "dossiers barrés", files which had been marked by Creusot Forge employees, indicating that there had been inconsistencies during manufacturing. EDF completed the review of these files last October.

Its Fessenheim 2 reactor has been halted since June 2016 over irregularities discovered in these files, which indicated that there might be weak spots in the steel of one of its steam generators.

Because of the anomalies in the marked files, EDF is now also reviewing 9,000 unmarked Creusot Forge manufacturing tracking documents, including 1,600 documents relating to components in reactors that are currently operating.

EDF shares were up 0.6 percent at midday, slightly outperforming the broader French stock market. (Reporting by Geert De Clercq, Editing by Dominique Vidalon and Susan Fenton)