23 Jun (NucNet): Vattenfall has warned that its finances for the second quarter of this year will be hit substantially if the German parliament ratifies government proposals for the early shut-down of some of the country’s nuclear plants.
Vattenfall said yesterday that, assuming parliamentary approval of the proposals at the end of this month, the company’s operating profit for the second quarter of 2011 will be "negatively impacted" by an estimated 10 billion Swedish crowns (about 1.1 billion euro or 1.6 billion US dollars).
Germany’s Bruensbuettel and Kruemmel nuclear plants, which Vattenfall manages and owns 66.7 percent and 50 percent respectively, will not be permitted to restart if parliament ratifies proposals as part of an overall phase-out of nuclear in Germany by 2022.
"As a result, Vattenfall is forced to impair its book value of the two plants and to increase the provisions for dismantling the plants and the handling of nuclear fuel," Vattenfall said. However, the company said the move would have no negative impact on cash flow in 2011.
Vattenfall will issue a detailed report on the profits impact for the second quarter in its half-year report next month.
Germany's governing coalition government said last month that it had agreed a date of 2022 for the shut-down of all of the country’s 17 nuclear reactor units in the wake of the March accident at Japan’s Fukushima-Daiichi plant.
The country’s seven oldest reactors, which were already shut down temporarily following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident, and the Kruemmel nuclear power plant, would not resume commercial operation. Six other units would go offline by 2021 at the latest and the three newest units – Neckarwestheim-2 (commercial operation 1989), Isar-2 (1988) and Emsland (1988) – by 2022.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Merkel Indicates Support For Lifetime Extensions (News in Brief No. 151, 30 August 2010)
Germany Pledges To Shut All Nuclear Plants By 2022 (News in Brief No. 128, 30 May 2011)
