EDF reports 37.6% drop in French nuclear output in August

PARIS (Reuters) – Nuclear power generation at EDF’s French reactors in August fell by 37.6% year on year to 18.1 terawatt hours (TWh), mainly due to the impact of the discovery of stress corrosion, the utility said on Tuesday.

EDF said on its website that total nuclear generation in France since the start of the year was 191 TWh, down 20.2% compared with January-August 2021.

That puts July 2022 production at 18.8 TWh. EDF does not usually provide a nuclear production update in August for the month prior.

The French utility said its August nuclear power output in Britain was up 6.5% year-on-year at 3.3 TWh, up from 3.1 TWh in August 2021. Total generation in Britain since the start of the year was at 30 TWh, up 10.7% from January-August 2021.

(Reporting by Forrest Crellin; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)