Areva to temporarily shut down 2 French uranium plants

French nuclear group Areva on Thursday said it would for the moment shut down two uranium exchange plants in France during November and December the temporary shutdown of the two plants, which employ approximately 570 staff, comes after a sharp fall in orders from Japanese nuclear power producers in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, said a spokeswoman at Areva.

"This decision is justified by events that occur in Japan and that are reducing Japanese power groups' delivery needs against this background we deem it unreasonable to create large amounts of converted uranium," the spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said the temporary shutdown would decrease estimated production to 10,880 tonnes in 2011, down from an early goal of 13,400 tonnes for the full year the plants, which are owned by Areva's subsidiary Comurhex and are situated in the southern French cities of Tricastin and Narbonne, chemically arrange uranium before its is enriched to become fuel for nuclear power plants.