French utility EDF lifts cost estimate for new reactors to 67 billion euros - Les Echos

PARIS (Reuters) - French state-owned utility EDF has raised its cost estimate for the construction of six new nuclear reactors to 67.4 billion euros ($73.18 billion), Les Echos newspaper reported on Monday, citing unidentified sources.

The utility had first estimated their cost at 51.7 billion euros, though it acknowledged that figure could rise in later estimates.

The French government last year bought the stake in EDF it did not already own and delisted its shares from the stock market as it launched a major new investment programme to add more nuclear power plants in a country that mainly depends on nuclear energy.

A spokesperson for EDF did not comment on the reported sum. "We are currently in a phase of cost and schedule optimisation," EDF said in a emailed statement.

($1 = 0.9211 euros)

(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Benjamin Mallet; Editing by Jan Harvey)