Areva : EDF board left nuclear plant closure options open - CGT union

PARIS (Reuters) - EDF's board approved a motion on Thursday that leaves the French utility more leeway on whether to close its oldest nuclear plant, the Fessenheim site on the Franco-German border, a CGT union official told Reuters on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, EDF's board had decided not to vote through a first motion that would have closed the ageing plant for good.

A source at EDF said the second motion had approved the principle of closing Fessenheim but only under two conditions: the start of production of a new nuclear plant in Flamanville, Normandy and if nuclear production remains below a ceiling set by law.

Energy Minister Segolene Royal said that meant Fessenheim's closure was "irreversible".

But the CGT union official, Laurent Langlard, disagreed. "In concrete terms, Fessenheim continues to operate in 2017, it continues to operate in 2018, and we'll see when Flamanville starts producing which unit is disconnected from the grid. But it won't necessarily be Fessenheim," he told Reuters.

Langlard said the law setting the nuclear production ceiling could be changed after a new president is voted in May.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Cyril Altmeyer; Editing by Leigh Thomas)

Stocks treated in this article : E.D.F., Areva